Total Drama: Terror is Reality!
by Baconsandwichman
Summary: Dead Rising 2 X-over; After joining a special TIR promotion, Trent finds himself framed for the Fortune City outbreak of the undead.  Now he, Cody, and Gwen must find the others and clear his name in three days before the military arrives. *Discontinued*
1. Terror is Reality!

A/N: Yay, another story stuck in my system that needs to go out! Hehe... Main pairings remain, fan pairings develop over time.

**WARNING:** This is rated M for violence, swearing, sexual themes, and character death.

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Chris "Last time on Total Drama Reloaded… it came down to Lightning and Dakota! Challenge after challenge the two outlasted the rest of the pack and finally, it came down to…"

"…Give it a rest," Chef cut in.

Chris only sighed as he and Chef sat depressingly in an old rundown bar. The show had been cancelled due to the loss of viewers and ratings during the fourth and final season. Replacing the cast became the show's downfall and the former host could only narrate it to himself. Chris sadly chugged down his shot of whiskey as him and his former co-worker drank their problems away.

"Just one more time… just one more time in the spotlight is all I ask for" Chris pleaded.

"Well it's done! We went all "Scrubs Season Nine" and look what happened!" Chef reminded.

"I know… but isn't there anything we can do?"

They both look at the TV suspended above them in the bar to see a commercial.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the voice-over in the ad began, "Brace yourselves for the most provocative and controversial game show ever! They took our Willamette! They took our Las Vegas! But here in Fortune City, we are getting our revenge on those zombie bastards! Welcome to… TERROR IS REALITY!"

The TV screen shows clips motorcyclists driving within an arena and sawing down hordes of flesh eating zombies with maximum gore.

"Are those… zombies?" Chef astonishingly asked.

"Where have you been?" the bartender asked, "This is America's biggest show!"

"Canada… But zombies?" Chris questioned as well.

"Dude, they have been an epidemic since their first rising in Colorado. Luckily the US military kept them contained since then and so we managed to keep them in check for the show! Many dispute its ethics and a group of people formed a protest group called CURE."

As the two watched the advertisement with awe, an idea struck the former host.

"That's it!" Chris said after receiving his epiphany.

****Meanwhile****

Watching the playback of last episode's TIR, Tyrone King, a bombastic dark-skinned man in the fanciest of garments, casually smokes his cigarette. He wore a violet fur coat over a casual tux, and had on a pair of purple tinted glasses.

"Mister King, you got a phone call" an assistant informed the executive producer of Terror is Reality.

"Well who the fuck is it?" T.K. snapped back at him.

"It's a… mister Chris McLean…"

"Who?"

"The host of a Canadian reality show called Total Drama Island…"

"Total Drama? Fine, let me talk to him" T.K. reluctantly complied as he grabbed the phone from the assistant and then rudely asked the phone "Yeah?"

"Hello, is this Tyrone King?" the fired host of Total Drama asked from the other side of the line.

"The fuck do you think this is? Of course, son!"

"Kay kay… sorry… I was just thinking of a little celebrity guest starring on your show" Chris offered.

"I'm listening…"

After learning the details, the two come into an agreement. T.K hangs up the phone.

"You think it will be popular?" the assistant asked.

"As long as it drives the stoner fans from the fucking CURE protesters" Tyrone informed, "Besides, some retard kids who have no idea of what they are getting into is always a rating booster"

Suddenly, two scantily clad women who appeared to be twins, walk into the studio room. One was a blonde, with short hair and one long bang hanging from the right side of her face. She also wore a golden, one piece, scaled dress. The other had dark hair with another single long bang to her left side of her face. She wore a silver one piece dress.

The blonde was the one to speak, "Sir, you have another phone call. It's the Phenotrans Company"

****One Month Later****

A plane lands in Fortune City, Nevada. Out of it came the original cast of Total Drama.

"Wow, this is Fortune City? Awesome!" Gwen was the first to speak out at the sights.

Trent read from the brochure, "Get away from it all and lose yourself in one of our many casinos or try and resist spending all your winnings at one of our fine stores. Fortune City; where the good times never know when to end!"

Cody looked at his own brochure, "Wow, this place really does have everything! Four Slot Casinos, two shopping malls, a food court, one long chain of outdoor stores and mini casinos in the strip between them!"

"They even have a wedding chapel!" Sierra happily added, "Just for you… and me… It's called 'Swept Away!'"

"Great…" the geek nervously stated.

"I can't wait to go to the shopping malls, right Tyler?" Lindsay giddily asked.

"…Uh yeah. Shopping!" the jock reluctantly complied with his girlfriend.

"Eeeeeee! We want to go shopping too! Right, Sadie?" Katie asked her BFF.

"Eeeeeee! Right, Katie!" Sadie concurred.

"I wanna come too!" Beth added.

Owen cut in, "I just want to know where the Food Court is, I'm starving"

"You just had three ham dinners" Noah reminded.

"I know! I've been famished" The chubby teen lamented.

"Perhaps you and I can spend some alone time, mi amor…" Alejandro offered the queen bee.

"As if…" Heather coldly scoffed.

"You're mouth says no, but your eyes say yes"

"Need I remind you that my knee also says no?" the queen bee sharply reminded.

"Back then, the one million came between us," the Latin also recalled, "What stands in the way now?"

Heather smugly grinned back, "I don't date losers"

"Love the soap opera here," Duncan cut in, "But we have some zombie killing to do"

The atmosphere changed after the sudden realization of what the Total Drama contestants are getting themselves into.

"Yikes dude, I am still struggling to believe there really are the living dead around" Geoff confessed.

"And is killing them really ethical?" Bridgette questioned, "They're people… or were…"

"Need I remind you that they are already dead?" Duncan rebutted.

"Zombies don't scare me" Eva boasted.

"Izzy excited to see zombies! Maybe they'll bite me and make me their queen!" the psychopath announced.

"Yeah… something tells me that plan won't end well…" Noah sarcastically remarked.

"Nah uh! There is no way I am stepping into that arena" Leshawna cut in, "I'm just a spectator"

"Me too" Harold concurred, "Not because I'm scared, but I have to protect Leshawna with my mad skillz in case a zombie gets loose!"

Courtney stepped in and announced, "If I am within a hundred feet with those things, I am going to sue both shows into third world poverty!"

"I'm not going anywhere, either!" DJ added, "I wouldn't even come here without momma!"

"No way," the delinquent chuckled, "You brought Mommy with you?"

DJ's mom joined the group and smacked Duncan upside the head, "Ain't no way my Poppydoo is going anywhere near those things!"

"OH LOOK! A ZOMBIE!" Heather pointed out in a panic.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" DJ screamed out loud.

"Oh wait, it's just Zeke…" the queen bee sharply corrected herself.

"Hey… I am back to normal now, eh!" the prairie boy reminded.

"Well I don't know about all of you, but I am excited at mowing down zombies" Duncan eagerly announced, "Right Gwen?"

The goth nervously smiled, "I always like zombie flicks… but to know they really exist…"

"Don't sweat it, Pasty," Duncan assured, "When I'm done with them, there'll be a couple million less in the world"

Josh and Blaineley also walk towards the group.

"What are you two doing here?" Justin asked the two.

"Celebrity Manhunt is doing a segment on Mister Tyrone King, the host of Terror is Reality," Josh elaborated, "As to why Blaineley is here, is beyond me"

"You remember! I got my job back!" Blaineley fibbed.

"Right…" the employed Celebrity Manhunt host rolled his eyes.

Suddenly Chris, Chef, and a stagehand walked to the group as well.

"Welcome my favorite cast!" Chris brownnosed.

"After trying to replace us, now you're sucking up?" Heather inquired.

"Aw come on now, we had some great memories, didn't we?" the host nervously reminded, "Hey, you all get to be on TV again! You scratch my back, I scratch yours!"

Reading from his clipboard, the stagehand says, "Okay, for this promotion we are gonna have two of you at a time competing with two other professionals. Trent and Duncan, you two are first up to plate, Cody and Alejandro after that, and so on and so forth. First two, come with me"

"Hehe… excited Elvis?" Duncan asked competitively.

"Ecstatic…" the musician reluctantly responded.

"While you guys gave your corpsefest, we're gonna break and actually enjoy this place" Heather spoke for the group as they parted to their own ways.

"Goodbye, Duncan," Courtney bided farewell before sneering at him, "Hope you become zombie chow!"

"You too, Princess" the punk shot back.

****Later****

The scene fast forwards to Trent and Duncan preparing their bikes in their TIR motocross uniforms. The two were the first to be paired up with two professional Slicecycle drivers as part of their celebrity guest star promotion. A Slicecycle is a modified motorcycle with two large chainsaws strapped around the handlebars made especially for chopping up zombies. Trent was in a yellow jumpsuit. Duncan was on the other side in a red jumpsuit. One of the professionals bared a similar resemblance to the musician but was slightly older and had five 'o'clock shadow. The other driver was in a blue suit and covered his face under a helmet. Gwen was chatting with Duncan and prepared to part after affectionately kissing the punk.

"Go get them, Duncan!" Gwen happily said as she left him, before exiting the room, she turned to Trent, "Good luck to you too, Trent"

The musician sighed as she left, missing the affections the goth had once gave him.

A stagehand came up to all four of them, "Hey, you are all on in two minutes! Also, I need you all to sign this release form before you all go out there"

After doing so, as well as since all four Slicecycles were ready, the four drove down the corridor that then lead to a platform. Surrounding the hallway and the platform were steel fences dividing the four between hordes of walking corpses aptly named, zombies. Their fleshes were decrepit, their eye's glowed bright red, and they growled and snarled hungrily at the living beings they were caged out from. In the thousands, they try to break thought the fence but to no avail. Trent recoiled after finally seeing the zombies face to face while Duncan grinned in anticipation.

The green Slicecyclist, who was closest to Trent, quickly recognized him, "Hey, you're Trent, right?" The green rider asked recalling the special TIR promotion that was occurring.

"Yeah, that's right" Trent friendlily responded.

"Dude, I love you on Total Drama! My name is Leon!" the green rider greeted with hospitality.

"Thanks man, it's always nice to meet a fan" the musician happily responded.

"Yeah, it's too bad you lost Gwen to that delinquent"

"Well… thanks…" Trent said, recalling his past mistakes and the ultimate loss of his true love.

"Yeah…" Leon's kind smile turned into a cold, cruel grin, "…It's a shame you were such spineless pussy who lacked the ball sac to actually hold on to a woman, AHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Realizing Leon's true nature, Trent glared at his competitor in this show and just focused on preparing his Slicecycle.

Interrupting the tension, a voice on the intercom speaks loudly, "Zombies… took our Willamette… they took our Las Vegas… But tonight, America, we're going to get a little payback!"

The platform the four drivers and their Slicecycles rose and lifted them all up to the circular arena where the competition will take place.

"Welcome everyone to Fortune City, Nevada! America's entertainment playground!" The intercom voice continued. A fireworks show started as the riders gets settled into the arena, "And now it's time for America's most dangerous game show! It's time for… Terror… is… Reality!"

The pyrotechnics get more intense as the bigger explosions occurred while the many fans sitting on the bleachers surrounding the arena cheered at full volume.

"And here's your host… TYRONE KING!" the voiceover introduced as the flamboyant host entered the stage overlooking the arena. Accompanying him were the lovely twins, Amber and Crystal.

The host took his large microphone, and charismatically spoke to the audience, "Well America? Are you hungry for a little terror? Because tonight, we are gonna give it to you! I've been poking these zombies all week, and man, are they pissed! Ahahahaha! Our contestants are almost ready, so let's send them a little message! You are gonna need to risk it all if you are ever really gonna…" T.K. paused and points the microphone to the audience.

"WIN BIG!" the crowd happily finished for him.

"Hahaha! That's right! Also, we have some special guest competitors with us here tonight!" Tyrone continued, "You all remember the popular Canadian reality show, Total Drama right? Well now the kids are playing in OUR yard! All the games and relationships mean nothing here! Will they make it out alive? We shall find out! Right here! RIGHT NOW! Please welcome the first two guests… TRENT…"

The crowd cheered for the musician.

"…AND DUNCAN!"

The audience rose to their feet and scream in support of the delinquent. Trent only sighed due to the overwhelming popularity the punk had over him.

"Hehe… will they give our professionals a run for their money? We'll find out… BEGIN!"

The riders put on their protective helmets as the game began. On cue, chutes, suspended above everyone, started dumping zombies onto the arena. Hundreds of the walking corpses turn to the contestants and began stumbling over towards them.

Trent was hesitant at first as he watches the zombies approach them. This becomes his undoing as Duncan and Leon get the better start and began plowing through the undead masses. The kill count came in their favor as their points started racking up. Snapping out of his trance, Trent began driving his Slicecycle and began sawing through his own share of walking corpses.

"They're already dead… they're already dead…" the musician tries to remind himself as he continues to chop up the horde.

The time limit dwindled as all four competitors continue to drive their Slicecycles through zombie after zombie. Duncan was having the time of his life while ripping through rotted flesh with the chainsaw handlebars. The crowd went wild when the delinquent took the lead while Trent was currently in dead last. After driving through another pack of zombies, Trent quickly gyrated the chainsaw-bike and drove through them again. Blood and guts spewed from the undead as the two chainsaws tore through them like butter. Wasting no time in catching up, Trent continued to mow down more and more zombies as his score narrowly beats the blue driver's. The time limit reached near its end and Trent struggled to catch up to the other two. Duncan continued to enjoy his time as he found more creative ways of slaughtering zombies. He jumped with his Slicecycle and utterly beheaded a crowd of corpses. Eventually, the time limit hit zero and the buzzer sound was heard.

Tyrone King got back up on the stage above them, "Alright! Let's wipe 'em off and hose 'em down. Let me hear it people! And show some love for our winner tonight! He's a hero! He's a survivor! He's… Duuuuuncaaaaaan! "

The crowd goes wild over the prevailing delinquent. The punk walked up to the stage where T.K and the twins were.

"He risked it all, and now he's taking home the big money!"

Following directions, the twin in silver hands Duncan the reward money and walked away.

T.K. continued, "But we are just getting started! The carnage is just beginning! So right now, let me hear you make some noooooooooooiiiiise!"

The audience continues to cheer as the light show surrounding T.K. goes up in sparks.

****Later****

Trent just silently sits in the TIR locker room after losing the match. As he did, he listens to a television that suspended over him in the area.

"…the problem and are examining the diets on different farms. This seems to have only compounded the problems which have been linked to the beef shortages in local areas." The news anchor said before moving on to the next story, "The zombie rights group, CURE is in the news again. The protest group have shown in the adult playground of Fortune City, which has chosen the site of the latest installment of the pay-per-view game show, Terror is Reality. The protest group just compounds the problems of the game show, which have been plagued recently by tumbling ratings and controversy. CURE was on the site of the show to display their opposition to what they call unethical treatment of zombies. Stacey Forscythe, the leader of the Nevada branch of CURE, had this to say,"

The news program revealed footage of a red-headed Caucasian woman standing before a CURE rally speaking, "Let our government know we will not stand for their systematic neglect of the infected! We must take drastic action now!"

The anchor continued, "Public opinion is mixed on the group's views, which are sometimes seen as radical"

Footage showed a man speaking next to his wife, "This is a joke right? Why would you want to save those "things"?"

"Stay tuned. Coming up right after the break, we've got weather and sports"

Trent only sighed before the man in the blue TIR uniform, who had been revealed as Anim, walked up to him, "Doesn't feel good does it? I lost my family in Willamette. I'd rather just have them back"

Trent could not think of what to say, so he changed back into his regular clothes before heading out to reunite with his friends.

As the musician walked down the hallway he sees the blonde twin, who had earlier been identified as Amber, who helped T.K. with his show.

"Well, who do we have here?" she tauntingly inquired, "Trent, Total Drama star. I guess you think you're a big man now? Well, I bet nothing about you is particularly big"

Trent only frowned at the suggestive innuendo.

"Or maybe you just don't… ride much"

The musician shrugs her off and walked towards the elevator. Just as Trent pressed the button, it opened up, revealing the other twin.

"The ladies were a little disappointed in your… performance tonight, Trent. But you must get that a lot" the silver twin who had been revealed to be named Crystal added her own innuendo to the musician.

Crystal tauntingly waltzed to Amber and holds her golden twin suggestively as they both smirk at Trent.

"Good night ladies…" Trent only responds as the elevator door closes between them.

As the chamber lifted him, Trent noticed an ad sign displaying a certain medication. It read, "Keep living your life with ZOMBREX, Extended Care, 24 HOURS," After reading the advertisement, Trent resumes focus on the task at hand.

Suddenly, the entire elevator quaked on him. Sparks shoot out on the sudden collision and the musician is knocked back. The impact caused him to slam his head against the chamber wall and briefly losing consciousness.

****Later****

Trent came through from getting knocked out to hear the fire alarm.

"The hell is going on?" He asked himself.

The musician gets up to see the elevator chamber just below the door he needed to break through. He ran over to it and, with all his strength, tries to slowly pry open the door. As more and more of the room in front of him became visible, he hears screaming from all over the halls.

"Oh God, oh God, she got me, she got me…" a wounded man said as he held his neck wound and stumbled in front of Trent's field of vision. Blood poured from the gaping hole in his collar, while screaming people ran past said wounded man as his movements grew slower and slower. Trent watched the chaos as the bitten man slowly turned back at the musician with a fiendish snarl. His bloodshot eyes turned red as the new zombie heads in Trent's direction.

"Good God…" were all the words Trent could muster up as the zombified man slowly approached him. Wasting no more time, Trent tries his hardest to push open the elevator doors enough for him to fit through and make his escape. As he does, the walking corpse stumbles nearer and nearer as time runs short for the musician. Trying to crawl through the cramped opening of the doors, Trent is just inches away from the ravenous zombie. Just before the musician could get back onto his feet, the zombie lunged at him. Fortunately for Trent, another guy, in a state of panic, ran into the undead man. The famished fiend spared no missed opportunity to sink its rotting teeth into the flesh of the unfortunate person. Trent's eyes widen when he stood up and saw the man get disemboweled by the walking dead. Now successfully inside the hallway, he hears the screams of those around him as the famished undead proceeded to slaughter them. Trent was petrified on the horrific scene and almost immobile as more zombies approach him. Unable to think of what to do, a realization popped into his head.

"The others!"

**To Be Continued…**

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**A/N: Crossovers aren't usually critically acclaimed, but I certainly hope I can get as much feedback from you as possible.**  
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	2. The Outbreak!

**A/N: Finished this a little sooner than I had expected, hope any and all of you like it, hehe**

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"The others!" Trent yelled in his panic while the zombies begin surrounding him.

Chaos ensued the corridor as cries and screams echoed through the halls, only just louder than the screeching fire alarms that all went off. The undead approach the musician and he could only try and look around for a saving grace. Fortunately, he saw a well placed baseball bat nearby. Trent hastily made for the foreign object while eluding the zombies. He quickly bent down and grabbed the bat and as he raised his head back up, he saw an old man get dog piled by the undead horde. Seeing the elderly getting eviscerated, Trent nearly hacked out vomit. This vision of disgust almost became the musician's undoing as another zombie lunges at him. Trent, quick to react, pushed back the baseball bat and then swung it hard into the reanimated corpse's skull.

Wasting no time from there, Trent darts through the halls, trying to avoid looking at the grisly deaths of those around him. He was nearly deafened by the sound of screams and alarms while avoiding each oncoming zombie and striking the ones that get to close with his weapon. He ran by one room where he saw the familiar stagehand get dragged into to be devoured by the flesheaters.

"Keep it together Trent! They need you!" the musician yells at himself while trying to escape the living dead.

Eventually he made it to the TIR Arena Lobby where the scene was just as dim. It was completely mobbed by the undead in the hundreds. People were getting torn apart left and right and Trent couldn't help but hack in his mouth watching the massacre. This next distraction caused a zombie to tackle the musician from behind. Trent is thrown to the ground while the zombie tries to get a bite into the neck area. He tosses and turns trying to throw the corpse off of him but to no avail. Trent finally takes one blunt end of his baseball bat and rams it into the zombie's face. Taking the opportunity to flip over, Trent finished it by swinging the bat hard enough to completely decapitate his reanimated assailant, otherwise told as knocking its block off. Trent stands back up and makes towards the door to the outdoor strip. Narrowly dodging the undead surrounding the doors, he slips outside.

Now he made it to the Silver Strip, an outdoor shopping and gambling plaza that centers Fortune City. Clearly the outbreak wasn't just in the TIR building, for the atmosphere just got grimmer outdoors. The first thing Trent saw was a zombified tourist feasting on the entrails of a newly slain woman. It looks up and snarls at Trent.

"Where do I go now?" The musician asked himself as he looks around Fortune City for a safe haven.

Suddenly, he heard a hauntingly familiar scream.

"STAY BACK!"

"GWEN!" Trent turned to the left and saw his gothic ex standing on top of the Strip Fountain being surrounded by the undead horde.

"TRENT?" Gwen turned back at him while kicking back a zombie who tried to climb up to her.

The musician quickly ran to the assaulting undead and clubbed them all down with his baseball bat. After the large blunt piece of wood dispatched the final zombie, Gwen hopped down from the fountain and happily hugged her ex.

"Thank you so much Trent!" the goth graciously said after releasing the brief embrace.

"Where's Duncan?" Gwen said, realizing her boyfriend was still amiss.

"Didn't see him" Trent answered back, "Have you spotted anyone else?"

"No, I haven't"

"Come on, we got to find someplace safe!"

The musician grabbed his ex by the hand and pulls her down the streets of the Silver Strip. They both see more and more death and destruction as the chaotic massacre of Paradise City continues.

"Just keep your eyes closed, Gwen!" Trent ordered as he leads her down the road, not wishing any more carnage to traumatize her further.

As the two ran for dear life, a sound of gunshot was heard from over the distance. Following the sound, Trent leads the goth to where the shooter was. There, they saw him and others fleeing from the undead.

The shooter turns to them, "GET TO THE SAFE HOUSE!"

They both look around for where said location was. One guy ran past them, almost knocking Gwen over, and made off for dear life towards a nearby alley.

"Trent, look!" Gwen pointed at a sign labeled, _Fortune City Emergency Shelter_.

"That's it! Come on!" Trent responded, ushering the goth to head that way.

Just as the two was about to take off to the safe house, from the corner of Trent's eye, he spots a familiar scrawny figure in the distance.

"That's Cody!" Gwen shouted for him.

The two run towards the geek who appeared to be motionless as they approached him.

"Cody! The safe house is over here!" Trent hollered as they ran up to him.

The geek, in a petrified state, gives no response as his arm is extended outwardly in the air.

"Cody? What's wrong?" the goth asked as they finally reached him.

"…" The geek's eyes were widened by the devastating ordeal he had just witnessed.

Trent turned towards Cody's line of sight to see the true horror that broke the gap-toothed geek.

"Oh God…" Trent silently stated to see none other than the wannabe farm girl, disemboweled by a pack of ravenous undead.

"Beth…" Gwen immediately plants her face in Trent's chest, weeping intensely.

"…I thought… I thought I had her…" Cody dreadfully stated as his arm was still reaching out to nothingness. Suddenly, the geek started gagging and falls to his knees. Bending forward, Cody begins hacking out bile as a reaction to seeing death right in front of him.

The zombie horde continues to approach the trio with hungered, crimson eyes.

"Cody, we have to get out of here!" Trent told the traumatized geek, "Cody, come on!"

Cody was unable to even make a movement as to evade the walking dead. All he could do was look up, and stare at the aftermath of Beth's gruesome demise.

This lack of reaction caused all three of them to be surrounded by the living dead. Trent readies his baseball bat, ready to take on the mob, but then noticed a large figure behind the reanimated corpses.

"Chef!"

Chris's long time assistant swings his cleaver around and slices an opening for the three, "Come on!"

Trent, not letting himself lose another friend, grabbed the geek and pulled him with Gwen and follows Chef Hatchet towards the safe house. Zombie after zombie tries to intercept the pack, but with the combined strength of Trent's bat and Chef's cleaver, they were able to fend them off.

"You sure the Emergency Shelter is the best idea?" Gwen asked skeptically as the four ran.

"It's the only shot we got!" the musician reminded.

After running down the narrow alley, they see a set of automatic doors before them. Sparing no more seconds of detour, they dash through as the doors close behind the four. Trent, Gwen, Cody, and Chef continued to run down a corridor and see a handful of other survivors. Still uneasy of following zombies, they turned back behind them as a reinforced steel gate blocks everyone off from where they just ran from. Relief had finally been brought to the group, but a certain uneasiness soon followed as everyone heard poundings from the other side from the ravenous undead trying to break through the ten ton doorway.

"Are these all that made it?" None other than Chris, himself, was there to reunite with the four amongst the other survivors.

Trent turned angrily at the host and grabs by the collar "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE FUCKING BEEN BEHIND THIS!"

"I swear, I had no idea!" Chris defended himself.

"…I couldn't save her… I couldn't save her…" the geek tearfully mumbles to himself.

At long last, everyone had a moment to breath as they, and the other survivors, coped with the pandemonium they just eluded. Trent also noticed another steel gate that was on the opposite side of the room from the one that protected everyone from the undead. He then looked around to see his fellow survivors. He sees a woman trying to get a signal on her cell phone but to no avail. He then spots the gunman from earlier. Following suit, he saw the blue Slicecycle rider he chatted with in the locker room just before the outbreak.

"No one else made it?" Gwen fearfully asked.

"…I don't think so" Trent sadly answered.

As if on cue, a hand grabbed Trent from behind. The musician, startled, jumped forward and readied his bat for what came at his rear.

"Hola mis amigos" None other than Alejandro with his patented smirk was the fourth Total Drama contestant to make it out of the zombie attack.

"Of all people…" Trent subtly muttered.

"Aren't you a cold one," The Latin Mastermind smugly stated, "I was just on my way here for my TIR match with the nerdling over there and it appeared more people than I anticipated hungered for my Latin bod.

"BETH IS DEAD!" Gwen shouted at him, "The last thing we need is your fucking assholish attitude!"

Interrupting the tension, the other steel gate opens before everyone. Everyone nervously looks before the second gate opens to reveal an aged man with ruffled up grey hair and a beard who also wore a Fortune City Security uniform. He nods to the survivors, and they, including Alejandro, wasted no time in complying by running past him into their safe haven. Trent grabbed Cody by the hand and, with Gwen, they were the last three to enter open gate but are then halted by the elderly man.

"Woah woah woah! Hold on a second, son" the surviving security officer said to the musician.

"What?" Trent impatiently question.

"Is there a problem?" Gwen added.

The elderly man pointed at the goth's feet. Minus a dazed Cody, both Trent and Gwen gasp at the bite marks on her ankle.

"But when?" the musician asked shockingly.

"I don't know… I don't know," Gwen said in a panic, "Must've been when I was on the fountain!"

"What do we do now?" Trent asked the security officer.

"Only a matter of time before she turns" the elderly officer responded.

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Yeah" the officer pulled out a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at the goth.

Trent quickly stepped in front of her defiantly.

"She can turn at any time, and I have to keep order here until the military arrives in three days" the elderly man informed.

"Three days?" Trent inquired.

"Yeah, the reserves will already be mobilizing. But their first priority is to quarantine the city. And that takes time," he elaborated, "They'll enter the city at first light three days from now. That's the standard procedure"

"But what about Gwen?"

"We have to keep order, and a ticking time bomb is the last thing we need for the survivors" the officer said as he readies his pistol once more.

"Sullivan, stop!" a red headed woman walked towards the group. Trent was quickly able to identify her.

"Hey, you're that lady from the news I saw earlier" the musician stated, "You're the leader of that protest group, CURE"

"The very same, Stacey Forsythe. Look, there's another option for her" the leader of CURE informed.

"Tell us!" Gwen impatiently ordered.

"There's a medication made to sustain the effects of the infected. It's called Zombrex. It's not a cure, but it does postpone the effects for twenty four hours"

"Well we don't have any Zombrex here, so what do you propose we do?" Sullivan inquired.

"I know where they can get some" Stacey rebutted, "There's a pharmacy in the Royal Flush mall"

"But it's flooded with the undead" the aged security officer reminded.

"I am more than willing to get it" Trent firmly stated, there another way out of here?"

"There's an air duct here you can use to crawl out through to take you to corridor that leads right to the Royal Flush Plaza. Zombies aren't smart enough to break through"

"Thank you, I'll get right on it"

"I suggest you take this" Stacey handed Trent a two-way radio communicator, "That way we can keep in touch. There's closed circuit cameras all over the city. Our camera room has monitors, but they are playback only. But I will keep an eye on them"

"And so will I!" Chris happily stepped in, "When I collect the tapes, I will be able to muster in the most extreme reality show ever!"

Everyone only glared at the former Total Drama host.

"What? Just trying to make the most of our scenario"

"Anyways, best of luck, sir" Stacey tells the musician.

"It's Trent, but thank you" the musician took the communicator and proceeded to the air duct.

"Trent, wait! What should I do?" the goth asked.

Trent looked back at Cody, who was still silently mumbling over the gruesome death he had witnesses, "Take care of Cody"

Gwen nodded, "Good luck Trent"

"The infection rate varies from person to person, but you better hurry" Stacey informed, "Oh and Trent, if you find anyone alive out there…"

"…I'll do what I can" Trent answered. He then noticed another brochure with the city map in it and grabbed it before finally leaving.

Sullivan looked back at the first gate to hear the pounding and battering of the undead on the other side. He then turned a switch to close off the second ten ton gate, securing the safe house.

**To Be Continued…**

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A/N: There you have it, the first causality had occurred. Who will make it out alive? Find out here on Total Drama: Terror is Reality.  
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	3. Big News!

**A/N: Holy crap! I thought this chapter would be a lot shorter than it is now. I try to keep my chapters consistent in length, but this is raising the bar too high XD. Anyways, enjoy!**

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Time Before Military Arrives: 75:50:59**

Leaving the Security Room in the safe house at a little past three AM, Trent walks up to the air duct, now with the mission to find some Zombrex for Gwen before the infection could spread and ultimately zombify her. Opening the duct, he peaks through the ventilation shaft, and then proceeded to climb down it. After five minutes of navigating through, he steps out to a dark corridor of the building.

Feeling relieved that the secluded spot didn't attract the undead he pulls out his pamphlet and tells himself, "The brochure says this will take me right to the Royal Flush Plaza"

Suddenly, he hears a ring from his transceiver.

"Hello?" the musician asked the phone.

"Trent, this is Stacey. Following the corridor you are in, you are just about to enter the eastern most part of the Royal Flush Plaza. The pharmacy is on the other side of the mall" The leader of CURE informed on the phone.

"Got it, thanks" the musician said before he hangs up the phone.

Wasting no time, Trent ran through the dark hallway. He noticed a large maintenance door to the right of him, but it was clearly locked. Shrugging it off, he reached the double doors that stood between him and the plaza. The musician knew exactly what awaited him in there. He inspected his baseball bat and notices it getting a little worn out after using it against so many zombies back in the Arena. On the off chance that it would break at the wrong time, he needed a backup. He looked around and noticed a sledgehammer on the floor. Picking that up, he strapped it to his backside so he would save it for a rainy day.

Nervously sighing, Trent finally opened the doors. His exact predicted scenario, the place was crawling with zombies. The atmosphere only got creepier when the mall played some cheery elevator tunes while the walking dead scavenged for fresh meat.

Trent pulled out his baseball bat and started running west down the Royal Flush Plaza. Looking around, he couldn't help but notice all the stores with endless possibilities for survival. A sporting good store had a selection of equipment like golf clubs and baseball bats. He also sees a tribal store that displayed bows and arrows as well as spears. However he had no time to window shop. He had to get the Zombrex and return to Gwen before it was too late. While narrowly dodging an oncoming zombie, he almost knocked a carton of orange juice that was conveniently placed atop of a mini coffee stand that was located in the center of the mall.

"Well, I could get thirsty" Trent said as he grabbed the OJ.

A pack of zombies soon surrounded him and the musician clubbed them back with his bat. After slugging some more passerbies', the pharmacy soon became within his field of vision.

"There it is!" he proudly announced to himself.

He ran towards the double doors and knocked away the zombies surrounding it before stepping inside.

****Gwen and Cody****

Back in the safe house, Cody hadn't said or eaten anything since he was settled onto the couch in the camera room. Silently, he just laid there with the thought of Beth's gruesome death still biting into his consciousness.

Gwen approached him and offers the broken kid a blanket.

"You doing okay, Cody?" the goth warmly asked.

"…" the geek gave Gwen a sad look before pressing his head against the cushion.

The goth sat on the other end of the couch next to him, "Cody, there was nothing you could have done. You can't keep beating yourself up over what happened to her"

"…"

"Beth was the lucky one. She is out of the hell we are in"

Cody raised his head after hearing those words, "…I want to escape this hell as well…"

"We will," Gwen assured, "In three days the military will get us out of here. Just be strong, okay? For Beth and the others…"

"…Okay…"

Gwen smiled at him and throws him a bag of hard candy, "I found these sweets in the cabinets so I thought you might like them"

Cody sat up and wiped his eyes, "Thanks Gwen…" The geek then took the bag and began spending his time watching the playback monitors.

The goth smiled at him and then left the security room.

Outside the doorway, Alejandro smugly stood before her with his patented grin, "Way to turn a zombie outbreak into an afterschool special. Won't be so cute if Trent fails and you decide to rip into the twerp's flesh"

"Go fuck yourself!" Gwen snapped at him before parting.

****Trent****

As soon as Trent entered the pharmacy, he sees something new. Three men who appeared to be around Trent's age were robbing the place. Apparently while some scream and flees from the chaos, others capitalized on the anarchy for their own gain. The looters wore dark "Fortune City" hoodies and jeans. They also concealed their faces with the hoods as well as red bandanas that covered their noses and mouths. Finally, they were strapped with backpacks as another means to carry their stashes. One of the looters was throwing medical supplies in a Push utility cart while the other two were rummaging through some shelves.

"Oh great…" Trent mumbled silently, knowing trouble would soon follow. He hid behind one of the shelves so they wouldn't notice him.

After getting frustrated over the lack of findings, one of the looters pulled out a crowbar and walked to the front counter of the pharmacy.

"HEY!" He yelled at a nurse who had been hiding behind the counter since the outbreak.

He slammed the crowbar against the counter, startling her.

"I know you're holding out on us! Where's the money? Where's the safe?" He hostilely interrogated.

The nurse was too frightened to respond, so the looter reached over and grabbed her by the arm. He then proceeded to pull her with enough force to nearly drag the nurse over the counter.

"Come on! Don't lie to me!" the looter continued while still holding up his crowbar.

"We don't have a safe!" the nurse fearfully tells him.

Not being convinced, the looter continues to strain her arm, "Don't lie to…"

"Hey, Dirtbag!" Trent finally intervened, revealing himself, "Let the lady go!"

The looter turned to the musician while maintaining his grip on the nurse, "Why don't you mind your own business, mullet head?"

"Exactly what I'm doing" Trent assured, "I'm just here looking for some Zombrex"

"Well you're definitely gonna need some painkillers when I'm done with you" the looter sharply informed him while finally releasing the nurse. He slowly approached Trent, readying his crowbar.

Trent defiantly pulls out his bat, "Well, talking to you is giving me a headache…"

"Oh yeah? What say you give me some money, and I'll go get some for you?"

The other two hooded looters stopped what they were doing and join beside the first.

"Yeah, give us some money, mullet head" the second looter said, wielding a long steel flashlight, "We'll help you out"

"How about it, hippie?" The third looter asked while holding a more interesting weapon, a tomahawk axe, "You got any money?"

Knowing full well of their malicious intent, Trent readies his own weapon of choice.

"GET HIM!" the first looter ordered as all three of them gang rushes the musician. Trent is startled at first and jumps back after all three swing their weapons at him.

The first looter was the first to continue the attack and swings his crowbar at Trent once more. The musician, however, parried it with his baseball bat and then rammed the blunt end of it into the looter's abdomen. Falling over in pain, the looter cringes over his blow to the stomach. Trent looked down at him and was prepared to finish him off. However, a thought crossed his mind…

…He was about to kill another living person…

Said thought reminded him that this was different from fighting the mindless corpses from before, and Trent was hesitant at first even then. This faltering became Trent's undoing as he is struck across the face by the steel flashlight wielded by the second looter. The musician is thrown to the ground himself as the first looter got back up.

"Too slow…" he taunted as all three circled the downed musician.

The nurse only fearfully watched the tussle persist.

"Let's finish this!" the tomahawk wielding thug readies his axe and swings it down on Trent. Quick to react, the musician blocked the chop with his bat. The third looter's tomahawk gets stuck into the wood and he tries to pull it out. Wasting no time, Trent trips him and jumps out of the looter circle.

"You're not getting away!" the first looter said as he comes at him with his crowbar again. Trent prepares to block with his bat once more. However, during the collision of weapons, the musician's bat couldn't take it anymore and ultimately shattered in two pieces after impact.

"Tough break, mullet head!"

Trent glared back at him before pulling out his second weapon, the sledgehammer, "Come and get some…"

As the other two looters have the first's back, he refused to be intimidated by them as they all run at him at once. Trent readies his hammer and gives one good swing to knock them all back. The impact threw all three of them into the shelves.

"Ugh… You piece of shit…" the first looter curses him as all three slowly get up. Trent competitively ushered them to go another round.

The second looter was the first to accept the proposal and ran at the musician. With a scheme of his own, he stopped and pulled out a can of spray paint. He then misted the eyes of the hammer wielding musician. Dropping his weapon, Trent groaned in pain while he covers his burning retinas.

"Finish him!" the first looter ordered as the second pulls out a bowie knife.

Just as Trent's eyes cleared, he saw the metallic reflection of the blade as it came towards him. With quick momentum, he tries to gain the best grip on the knife as he could. Grabbing near its bottom, Trent tries to keep its point from reaching the musician's stomach while ignoring the bleeding from gripping part of the blade. With his other hand, he grabbed the looter's head and slams him hard against the head of the sledgehammer, shattering his skull.

Trent's eyes widen as he quickly realized what he had done on impulse. The second looter's lifeless body laid there before him.

Breaking his chain of thought was a crowbar to the head, knocking him down again.

The first looter shrugged off the death of his comrade, "Aw well, more loot for us. Now let's finish this!" The looter stood over Trent and strikes down on the musician.

With the sledgehammer out of reach, Trent can only minimize the damage by blocking the blows with his arms. Despite the excruciating pain, Trent managed to regain the upper hand by simply raising his foot upwards and planting it into the looter's crotch.

"Auurgh!" the looter yelled as he rolls on the floor in newfound pain. He then gets up on his knees while holding his wounded nether regions, "You cheap fucker…"

Trent only stared behind the looter.

"What?" the looter questioned before looking behind him.

As he turned around, the looter sees a ravenous zombie who managed to have snuck into the pharmacy during the fight. It viciously lunges at the thug.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as the zombie ripped into his jugular, with blood and tissue spewing out of the gaping hole that the walking dead was feasting from.

Trent turned away in disgust and notices the third looter standing behind the nurse, readying his tomahawk.

"Eye for an eye, motherfucker!" He said as he throws the nurse against the desk and raises his axe for the kill.

Thinking hastily, Trent impulsively again picked up the second looter's knife and hurls it at the axe wielder with quick precision.

"Gaaaah!" The blade implanted into the thug's chest and he quickly falls lifelessly to the floor.

Not allowing any more surprises, Trent grabbed his sledgehammer and smashes and flattens the feeding zombie's head in one swing.

Now exhausted and aching all over, Trent falls on his behind against the counter. The first thing that came to mind was his hand wound. Luckily for him being in a pharmacy, bandages were within reach and he fixed his hand wound right up. Still worn out after dispatching the crooks and the undead, he felt something stick out in his pocket. Ignoring the innuendo, he pulled out the bottle of orange juice and quickly jugged it down.

"Ah, That's good OJ…" Trent happily said, enjoying every drop of concentrated liquid. As if by magic, the orange juice revitalized and rejuvenated the bushed musician.

After finishing the beverage, the musician looked around and inspected the bodies. Now he had the time to comprehend exactly what he had done. He killed three people in a state of panic. He now became conscious of a new threat that would later escalate as an equal epidemic to the infection. This disease was more so mental than physical. What he had encountered were individuals driven mad by the outbreak, otherwise known as "psychopaths".

Trent noticed a key next to one of the slain looters. Believing it would come in handy, he grabbed it and then turns to the frightened nurse across the counter.

"You okay?" Trent asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, thank you so much!" she stated after being relieved for the rescuer.

"There's a safehouse not too far away, I'll take you there after I grab something from here," the musician informed before a thought hit him, "Speaking of which, does this place have any Zombrex?"

"Think the last one was sold just before the zombies got loose" she sadly informed.

Trent only looked at the ground in frustration.

"Maybe if you checked the pharmacy office, there may be a hidden stash"

Trent quickly looked at the office door and ran to it. Turning the knob, the office was revealed to be locked. Before more frustration hit him, he remembered the looter's key, and with it, he unlocked the door.

Quickly looking around, Trent rummaged through the cabinets and drawers of the room, "Come on, there's got to be some here somewhere!"

As he continued to forage, from the corner of his eye, he sees a small blue and white box casually sitting on top of the computer desk. Trent quickly picked it up and inspected the box.

"Zombrex… the gift of life… no kidding" Trent said in relief.

"Did you find it?" the nurse asked.

"Yep! Let's get going!"

Trent walked with her past one of the fallen looters. The musician knelt down and picked up his crowbar.

Handing the weapon to the nurse, he says, "Here, in case one of the zombies get too close"

"…Kay…" she nervously complied, taking the crowbar.

Both of them leave the pharmacy back to the Royal Flush Plaza where the undead horde were all anxious to see them. Their glowing red eyes gazed hungrily at the two as they start to approach the pair.

"Come on! It's just on the other side!" Trent said as he ushered the nurse to follow him down the mall floor.

"Here they come!" the nurse screamed as a pack of ravenous undead intercept the two's path.

One zombie lunged at the musician but is thrown back by the force of his sledge hammer. Taking no time for pause, Trent smashed two corpses in one swing with his mallet. Another zombie attacks the nurse but she fended it off with her crowbar.

More and more zombies pursue them and Trent grabbed the nurse's arm and leads her down the Royal Flush Plaza.

Not stopping for an avoidable tussle, the two ran for dear life across the mall. Eventually, they see the double doors that would take them down their targeted corridor. Trent and the nurse ran through said doors and down said corridor. The isolated hall brought relief since no more of the undead stood in their way. Eventually they reached the air duct.

"We just crawl through here to the safehouse" Trent instructed and ushered the nurse to go through first. Following her, the musician crawled through the ventilation shaft and both eventually reached the Fortune City Emergency Shelter.

"Thanks again so much for saving me" the nurse said as she bowed her head gratefully to him before parting from him into the halls of the safehouse.

After Trent watched her leave, he turns to see Sullivan who was standing right next to him watching as well.

The aged security officer turns to musician, "Where on earth did you find her from?"

Trent paused just long enough for Sullivan to lose interest.

"Never mind, I don't want to know" he stated before starting to walk away.

"There's still people alive out there. And I know my friends are amongst them" Trent informed.

Sullivan walked up the steps to the upper levels of the safehouse. He turned back at the musician before departing, "We can't afford to have any infected in here"

Trent silently watched the security guard leave before recollecting the task at hand. The musician ran for dear life to the security room where he would hope to see a still alive Gwen.

As he entered the room, he calls out, "Gwen?"

"Trent!" Gwen happily got up from the couch that was placed inside the security room and approached the musician. Stacey also got up and was happy to see Trent's success.

"You got the Zombrex!"

"I told you I would" Trent reminded with a grin.

Trent opened the box for it to be revealed as an epipen. "How do we administer it?" He asked Stacey.

"It has to be injected into the arm" Stacey informed.

"Just do it quickly" Gwen said, not enjoying the idea of getting a shot.

She extended her arm and looked the other way. Trent readied the hypodermic needle and injected it into Gwen's upper arm area. The goth recoiled in pain but eventually found relief after the symptoms of zombification were lifted.

"That did it!" the goth happily stated as she wrapped her arms contentedly around her ex, "Listen Trent, I know there must still be tension between us for you, and believe me, I feel the same. But it means so much to me that you would go to hell and back to find me the cure!"

Trent smiled back at her, "Whether you loved me or hated me, I would never leave you to die, Gwen. I'm just glad your cured now"

"Zombrex is a suppresser, not a cure" the redheaded leader of CURE informed, breaking the moment, "It's a prescribed medication"

"Then what happens now?" Trent asked.

"You have to wait twenty four hours before giving more to her. Applying more sooner would be a lethal overdose, and waiting past the twenty four hour mark would then lead to… you know…" Stacey regrettably informed.

"So I have to find more by then?" The musician asked with frustration.

"I'm afraid so"

"Don't worry, Trent," Gwen assured, "We've got plenty more time this time around"

"I guess..."

"By the way, Trent, I saw you save that nurse, did you notice anyone else out there? Duncan or the others?"

Trent sadly turned to his ex, "No, I'm afraid I haven't"

The goth only frowned.

Stacey cut in, "Look, I'm sure everyone is a little stressed out, but don't let that mask your hunger. There's enough food to last us for the three days in the cafeteria room. Maybe it will bring some relief to our situation"

Trent and Gwen nod and the three proceeded into said cafeteria.

Chef Hatchet took the liberty of handling the cooking. Fortunately for everyone, he used more edible ingredients than he did back on the island. After he prepared their meals, they sat down and begin eating.

"Wonder what the news is making of all of this…" Gwen said as she turned on the television set that was suspended in the corner of the cafeteria room. As soon as the goth turned it on, the same news anchor that Trent watched earlier was on.

"I have been told that we have received a broadcast from our field reporter, Rebecca Chang, who is inside Fortune City" the anchor said as the show turned to a young Asian woman with long dark hair, who was reporting live somewhere in Fortune City.

Rebecca began, "It is clear that the outbreak started in the Fortune City arena, during last night's "Terror is Reality" show. Information received from a behind the scenes source reveals that this outbreak was not an accident, but rather an act of terrorism. This shocking footage was obtained from a source inside the Fortune City arena, the site of the "Terror is Reality" game show. It may be upsetting to some viewers"

The footage she showed revealed to be a man in a helmet and a yellow "Terror is Reality" jump suit which was the same uniform Trent wore during his time in the show. The figure strapped a bomb to the gate that caged up the undead. The man in question quickly ran off after setting the bomb off just before it exploded, destroying the gate and securing the zombie breakout.

"Initial reports suggest that the man in the video is reality star, and TIR promotional guest, Trent Smith"

**(A/N: Camp TV's first implied it as his last time in their prototype cartoon with the name on Trent's shirt)**

"WHAT?" Trent yelled in disbelief to the televised accusation.

"Smith, a member of the zombie rights protest group, CURE, was a contestant in tonight's pay-per-view game show. Acquaintances describe Smith as a known drifter, who became bitter over his popularity plummeting into obscurity, as well as the loss of his reality star ex. This horrible act of terror appears to be an escalation of violence for the protest group. This is Rebecca Chang, reporting live from the Fortune City Hotel, in the heart of Fortune City"

"WHAT? That's complete bullshit!" Trent objected and turned to Stacey, "That was not me!"

The red headed leader of CURE nervously backed away from the musician, "Did you have something to do with this?"

"No way, not on your life!" Trent tries to assure.

"It's not true! Trent would never do something like this!" Gwen defended.

"Me, Gwen, and Cody barely got out of the arena alive" the musician continued, "What possible reason would I have to do something like that?"

"Why are they saying you're part of CURE?" Stacey inquired suspiciously.

"I have no clue! I didn't even think zombies existed before flying here! Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm being set up" Trent angrily explained while pounding the table in aggravation.

"I think I know why…" Stacey said after recollecting something, "It's not the first time members of CURE have been falsely accused of being involved with an outbreak"

Trent and Gwen curiously looked at her while she elaborated.

"We were in town, protesting that awful show you were on" Stacey informed.

"Do you believe me?" the musician asked.

"I don't know what to believe… but you sure don't seem like a terrorist. And I know we weren't involved"

"Look, we have three days before the military rolls in. That's how much time I have to prove I'm innocent. The reporter, the one at the hotel. The tape she had, it's a complete fake. She said she had a source, whoever that is must know more. I need to find out where she got it" Trent informed.

"She said she was in the hotel. I'll keep an eye on Gwen's condition, good luck Trent" Stacey said as she left the room.

After the leader of CURE left, Trent turned to Gwen, "Before I go, I need to know, how's Cody been doing?"

"I think he's feeling better now" Gwen informed.

"I'll go check on him real quick before leaving"

Trent left the lounge to find his geeky friend. He looked from room to room trying to find him. He sees the blue rider and the gunmen casually chatting in one room, the woman trying to work her phone in another, and the nurse who was getting settled into another.

"Cody? Cody? Where are you?" Trent beckoned.

Eventually, Sullivan heard his call and approaches the musician, "That kid left, said something about spotting a guy in a red track suit"

"WHAT?" Trent was flabbergasted at the turn of events.

"He saw the guy on one of the monitors and wanted to do something about it"

"And you let him go?"

"Hey, I warned him but he chose not to heed it" the aged security officer informed.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT!" Trent angrily yelled.

"I gave him the key to the maintenance room in case it would help, if your lucky, you may be able to catch up to him"

Trent was in a tight predicament, he had to find the reporter before it was too late, but now Cody had run off to find Tyler and he had no idea where nor had the time to try and find out on the playback monitors.

****Cody****

The geek walked down the dark corridor between the safehouse and the Royal Flush Plaza. Reaching near its end, he sees a pack of zombies crowding the door to the mall. Cody then noticed the red maintenance door that he had the key to. Keeping a low profile, he slowly unlocked the double door and slipped in.

Inside the maintenance room, there was a work bench. To Cody's left, another baseball bat was resting on a desk. To his right, a box of nails sat atop some shelves. Putting two and two together became a thought, and soon an action. Cody took both parts and, with the work bench, he hammers the nails into the bat in a fashion where the pointed ends would stick out to create himself his very own "Spiked bat."

"Right on…" the geek proudly exclaimed while wielding his new combined weapon.

The geek walked out of the maintenance room, alarming the zombie mob that blocked his path to the Royal Flush Plaza. They begin their pursuit towards him and the geek eagerly readies his Nailbat.

"For Beth and the others…"

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 71:59:59**

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**A/N: BTW, as a cheap means to pull you all closer into my story (hehe... XD) I am accepting survivor OC apps. Like the nurse, survivors are people who are still alive and get caught up in situations involving either the zombies or the psychopaths (like the looters), and the main characters are responsible for saving their behinds. Here's the outline:**

**Name:**

**Former Occupation in Fortune City:**

**Current situation:**

**What lead to or how you found yourself in said situation:**

**Other:**


	4. Alive on Location!

**A/N: This is LONG OVERDUE! I wanna give a big shout out to Artmeis07 on Deviant Art for all his fan art of my stories. So sorry for not mentioning him earlier, it kept slipping my mind when typing my story. Anyways he has an awesome pic with Cody and his new weapon, as well as a sweet Codther pic made for TDLT. Love your work dude, hope to see more!**

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Time Before Military Arrives: 71:59:59**

"For Beth and the others…" the geek tells himself as he readies his nailbat before the zombies that blocked his path to the Royal Flush Plaza.

Interesting enough, the zombies appeared to be less aggressive since he last came across them when escaping to the safehouse. Their eyes reverted to white without irises. This didn't halt their hunger towards the geek and the undead slowly stumble towards him.

Cody runs recklessly into the zombie crowd and swings his spiked club hard against the corpses. The blunt strike alone was enough to take them out, but the nails helped rip away the remaining parts of their faces. A zombie lunges at Cody and said geek jumped back from it. He then swung his weapon downwards and implants the majority of the nails into the corpse's scalp. Quickly pulling it out as the zombie fell, Cody makes quick work of the remaining undead.

"That takes care of that" Cody said with optimism before proceeding into the Royal Flush Plaza.

****Trent****

The musician stepped out of the air duct on the other side of the corridor. Trent had two goals. One was to find Cody before he gets himself killed. The second, find the reporter who has the source he needed to clear his name from being the one responsible for the zombie outbreak. Hopefully he can kill two birds with one stone. As he proceeded to run, his transceiver rang.

"Hello?"

"Trent," Stacey informs, "Cody just entered the Royal Flush Plaza and heading west. You might still be able to catch up to him!"

"Got it, thanks!" Trent said before hanging up.

Despite how much faster he dashed down the dark hall, the time it seemed to take hasn't felt any longer than it is this time around. He eventually reached the end of the corridor to see the zombies the geek had recently dispatched.

****Cody****

Cody, not knowing a certain musician is following him, continues his pursuit to find Tyler using the brochure he had since before the outbreak to map his route.

Running down the mall, he quickly navigates around his zombie pursuers. His small stature and quick movements allowed the geek to elude the undead with ease.

****Trent****

The musician was not as lucky, for the undead provided a greater hassle for him. Wielding his much slower blunt weapon, Trent slams the corpses down with the might of his sledgehammer. However, more and more zombies get in his way.

"Dammit! There's no end to you bastards!" Trent angrily cursed at the undead as he fights them all off with his overly heavy weapon.

From the corner of his eye, he sees a store that caught his attention. A music store. Trent wanted a weapon he was more proficient in. He wanted an axe. Not a battle axe, not a fire axe, but a guitar axe. Quickly running in, he grabbed himself an electric guitar. Sheathing the hammer, he grabbed his instrument of combat and slammed it against a walking corpse. The zombie's downfall met with a comedic end when the thrash of the strings hummed a metal tune.

"Cody, I'm on my way!"

****Cody****

After dodging zombie left and right, Cody finally makes it to the other side of the plaza. He sees a wall of undead mobbing the doorways to where he needed to go next. This was the time for his shotgun, I mean, nailbat. He swings the modified blunt object against the horde with all the strength he could must before finally securing a path to the outdoor park that was the center of Fortune City.

****Trent****

The musician was getting closer to catching up to the geek. Trent knocks several zombies back on the way, using his metal guitar. His walkie-talkie then rang again.

"Trent, Cody just ran out to Fortune Park, the doors to there are just past the pharmacy you went to before, hurry!"

Following Stacey's command, the musician dashed towards to the area his brochure had guided him with. In no time afterwards, he finally reached the doorways to the outside. Seeing the freshly slain undead, he knew he was not far behind.

****Cody****

After running through Fortune Park, Cody heads up northeast to where the monitors revealed his target had been. The zombie population just got higher as he ran the infested, sun-risen outdoor area.

"Don't worry, Tyler! I'm coming!" he said as he clubbed down zombies left and right.

****Trent****

As the musician stepped outside to the park he quickly looks around for Cody, but the geek was still not in his sight. His transceiver rang again.

"Where is he?" Trent impatiently yelled as he answered.

"Trent this not good," Stacey informed, "Cody ran northeast up the Silver Strip, however if you want to clear your name, the reporter and the Fortune City Hotel is west of you, down the Platinum Strip"

"Shit… what am I going to do then?" the musician said, more frustrated than ever.

Suddenly, Gwen's voice is heard as she takes over Stacey's line, "Trent, go to the hotel"

"Gwen?"

The goth elaborated, "I don't know, but something tells me Cody knows what he is doing. Believe in him"

"…Alright"

Giving the geek a chance, Trent turns west and runs through the park towards the Fortune City Hotel.

****Cody****

By what could only be described as a zombie mosh pit, Cody finds himself blocked before his path to his destination. From the distance, he hears gunshots coming from ahead of him.

"I've come too far to stop now!"

The geek raised his spiked bat and smashes and smashes until the path becomes clear. The undead turn at him and proceeded to assault. Things get harder and harder for him as he exhaustedly fights them off. Zombie after zombie runs at the scrawny kid in hopes of feasting upon his weakened entrails. As Cody slays each zombie, he gets more and more worn out until finally the nails on the bat attached to one of the last zombies and the geek lacked the strength to pull them out of it.

"SHIT!" The geek could only say as the last few zombies get the best of him in his moment of weakness.

*BAM!*

The geek looked up to see the upper portions of the attacking zombies blown off. He looked past them to see a teen in a red jogging suit wielding a shotgun.

"Tyler!" Cody was happy to see his jock chum.

"Bro! Good to see you made it!" Tyler responded in kind.

The geek gets up and runs to where the athlete was. Tyler was standing above a deck in front of a diner, while keeping the undead pack away with his shotgun.

Once the geek got up to his level, "Tyler, glad to see you're alive as well! Listen, we gotta go to the Emergency Shelter, it's a safehouse from the zombies.

"But it's closed off!" Tyler reminded.

"There's an air duct that can take us right in!" the geek informed, "The zombies won't have a clue to how to get to us! We got plenty of supplies to last us before the military saves us!"

"Is Lindsay there?"

Cody frowned, "No… None of us has seen her yet"

"Then there's no way I'm going!" Tyler sternly informed before blasting his newly found firearm against an approaching zombie.

"But why?" the geek questioned.

"I can't just sit in a closed area just twiddling my fingers, hoping my girl is okay! I got to go find her!"

"But…"

"Sorry bro, when I do find her, I'll get back to ya, in the meantime, saving Linds is my top priority!"

Cody was all out of things to say to convince the jock.

Tyler then hands Cody a pistol, "Here, I found this off a security guard. If you want to rescue people, I think I saw someone up in the Yucatan Casino"

"Where's that?" the geek inquired after receiving his second weapon.

"Just follow the road you are taking and it will lead you right there"

The geek nods, "Good luck Tyler"

"You too, bro!"

The two parted ways as the geek makes off to his next destination.

Cody tells himself, "I hope he will be okay…"

****Trent****

As Trent stepped into the Fortune City Hotel, there didn't seem to be a trace of life or unlife around. There's just a clear lobby and empty front desks. After walking around, however, he does spot a keycard lying on the carpet floor. Inspecting it, he read Rebecca Chang, the one who reported of his false connection to the outbreak.

Reading too long, he had no idea a woman corpse snuck up from behind and lunges at the musician.

*Bang!*

With a bullet through the head, the zombie fell before Trent. He turned to see none other than the woman he was here to find being the shooter.

"You need to pay attention out here, buddy" she smugly informed.

"Thanks…" Trent expressed gratitude reluctantly to the reporter.

As the two walked up to each other, she introduced herself while swiping her keycard back, "Rebecca Chang, Channel 6 Action News"

"Trent Smith…"

Rebecca was surprised to learn his identity, "Are you serious? From the security video?" her surprise was replaced with a taunting tone, "I thought you'd be long gone by now. Since you're sticking around… care to answer a few questions?"

"I'm not your story, lady. I didn't have anything to do with the outbreak" Trent informed her.

"Right… sure you didn't" Rebecca responded, clearly unconvinced, "And that tape showed you tampering with the cages was…"

"…A fake" Trent firmly answered for her, "I had nothing to do with this. I barely got out of there alive. I need to know where you got that tape from… and who your source is"

"Reporters don't reveal their sources, Trent" she reminded him, "That's privileged information"

"Privileged my ass. That wasn't me on the tape. I'm being set up"

"Hmm… why should I believe you?" Rebecca inquired, now skeptical.

"You don't have to, but you want the big story right? Help me out and I'll give you an interview"

Rebecca became interested, "With the prime suspect? It has to be exclusive"

"Sure, it doesn't matter to me" Trent complied.

Moving on, Rebecca continues, "I can't tell you my source. But there is a central security room. There'll be footage of everything that happened there. I can show you where it is"

"Well that's a start at least. Aren't we going to need your crew?"

Rebecca frowned, "They ran off… with all the equipment. I guess they didn't want it bad enough"

Ushering him to follow her, they both take off to Fortune City central security room.

The two ran through a part of Fortune City that was still being constructed. He notices a sign that labels this place as the South Plaza. This place, though still being developed, did not keep the zombies away.

"Not making this easy for us, huh?" Rebecca smugly stated while shooting down a few of them.

"They never do…" Trent concurred while striking down another with his guitar axe.

****Cody****

Using his new gun, the geek shoots down some of the undead that stood in his way. Saving bullets, he then pulled out his nailbat and relied on that to deal with the zombie horde. More and more of the undead try to grab the geek, but the scrawny, quick kid scurries past them.

Eventually, the Yucatan Casino became within sight of the geek. It was one of Fortune City's largest architectures of all. The skyscraper was a casino and a hotel combined.

"I really wished we had a chance to actually enjoy this place before it went to hell…"

****Trent****

After fighting through the zombie horde on Trent's end, the two find their passage blocked by a mall security gate.

"Dammit!" Trent shouted in frustration.

"Better get used to that view, Trent," Rebecca taunted, comparing the gate to a prison cell.

Trent just glared back at her.

"Hope I don't have to everything for you" she said as she tinkered with some buttons next to the gate. In no time at all, the security gate opens for them. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Trent remained silent as he walked with her.

****Cody****

After much hindrance, Cody finally entered the Yucatan Casino. Interesting enough, the zombie population didn't seem as bad as the Royal Flush Plaza was. Something must be keeping them at bay. Walking past the slots, the geek couldn't help but admire the Mayan themed casino and all its historically constructed ingenuity. Breaking his trance, he sees a guy nervously walking past the geek's line of sight. After squinting to make out who the man was, Cody finally caught the identity.

"JUSTIN!" Cody called out for him.

The model turned back at the geek and quickly ran for his life.

The geek questioned as to what had startled the Hawaiian hunk. Answering his curiosity was the sound of a man from behind the geek.

"Snowflake hungry…"

Cody quickly turned around for a large gloved hand to grab the geek by the face and knock him into the ground, rendering him unconscious.

****Trent****

The pair eventually reached the door to the main security room, but it was locked. Trent tries to turn the knob, but it was to no avail.

"Here let me try" Rebecca said as she pulled out a bobby pin to pick the door.

"You got some interesting skills… for a reporter…" Trent mentioned.

"No one ever got an award for playing by the rules, Trent," just as she finished the sentence, she succeeded in opening the door.

As the two entered the dark room, they quickly noticed the staticy monitors and the corpse of security guard.

"Wow… Looks like somebody didn't like the show much" Rebecca said as the two approach the dead body.

Trent noticed all the busted technology in the room, "Dammit! There's nothing here that we can use! Everything's been destroyed!"

"Trent, check this out" the reporter beckoned while pointing her own video camera at the dead guard.

When the musician got a good look at the shot body he came to the conclusion, "No zombie did that…"

Rebecca put down her camera, "There may not be anything to clear your name, but it definitely proves someone's covering up what really happened"

"You believe me now?"

"Let's just say… I'm intrigued"

Interrupting the conversation, Trent's transceiver goes off. He picked up the phone and answers it.

"Trent!" the voice revealed to be Stacey's in a state of panic, "You need to get back to the bunker now."

"What is it? What's wrong?" Trent questioned.

"It's Sullivan! He saw you on the TV! You better get back here! He's threatening to kick Gwen out!" The CURE leader informed.

"I'm on my way!" Trent stated before hanging up. He then proceeded to leave the room.

"Wait, who was that?" Rebecca asked curiously.

"Stacey… Forscythe"

"The leader of CURE?"

"I guess" he impatiently responded.

"I'll meet you there!" she tells him as he left. She then smiled and tells herself while using her video recorder, "Oh, this just gets better and better…"

****Cody****

"Ugh…" the geek eventually came through and sees himself getting dragged by a large built bald man in worn work clothes with suspenders, "What the?"

Cody notices his nailbat and gun were thrown to the side, disarmed after getting captured.

"Look what I found you, pretty girl…" the heavy set man said to an unknown entity while releasing his hold on Cody's legs. The man turned to the geek with a smile, "…fresh meat. Hehe…hehe… hehe…"

The scrawny kid gulped as to what he was referring to. Looking past the guy, Cody's fear was realized as he sees a large sleeping tiger only inches away from the two humans.

Cody panicly sits up and pleads, "Woooaah! Come on buddy, I'm too small for her liking, hehe! Look, there's plenty of zombies around for her to eat isn't there?"

The man grows furious, "No! No! Not zombies! That meat is rotten! Like all her food now!" As his voice got louder, the tiger shows signs of waking up, "It went bad! She needs meat. Fresh meat"

The geek needed to think of something quickly before he became tiger chow, "Okay, okay, not zombies. But I can help. I can get her some food. Some steak. There has to be some somewhere in this place!"

"NO!" the heavy set man shouted again. He then knelt next to the slumbering feline's side and then started to lower his tone again after showing concern to the starving feline, "People not been very good to me…" he lamented, "…not like Snowflake, Snowflake my friend…"

Listening to his mannerisms, Cody could understand his predicament of being an outcast. Politically incorrect, this guy had some mental handicaps.

Cody stood up and continues to try and reason with the guy, "Listen, let's talk this over. What's your name?"

"Theodore…" The man revealed by giving a subtle smile back at the geek while softly petting the tiger, "but everyone call me Ted"

The geek smiled back, knowing he was going somewhere with this, "That's good! You don't have to do this, Ted. You may find this as a surprise, but there are some who label me as an outcast from the "in" crowd, hehe…"

Ted chuckled back at him.

"Let's just take things slow and we can make it through with this!"

Ted's friendly expression turned to a frown.

"Nice and slow Ted…"

The "special" guy's expression turned into anger, "NOOO! TED NOT SLOOOOW!"

The geek is taken back by the sudden turn of events. Apparently of all the words the geek could use in the English dictionary, "slow" was the wrong one to use. This outburst was even louder than before and the tiger starts to awaken from the sound.

"THEY ALL SAID THAT! TED NOT SLOOOOOW! STOP SAAAAYING THAAAT!"

Ted's tantrum was the final nail that ultimately awoken and startled the feral cat. The beast raised his head and snarls at the geek.

Ted turned to the tiger, "See? People not nice!"

The tiger growled at an alarmed Cody as Ted's expression turned sadistic, "Snowflake… go and eat your fresh meat…"

Snowflake obliges and gets up.

"…nice and slow… hehe…" the psychopath adds.

The tiger prowls towards a terrified Cody and gives an ear shattering roar.

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 69:59:59**

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A/N: Just a reminder, survivor OC apps are still open. But I have to make things a little more clear, OC's parts in this story won't be nearly as big as the TDI chars. They're role will be mostly to involve whatever mission they are currently found alongside of, like fending of zombies and psychopaths.  
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	5. The Alliance!

**A/N: Chapter five seemed to have disappeared for some reason, so I'm reposting this.  
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Time Before Military Arrives: 69:59:58**

****Cody****

Cody found himself between an emotionally and mentally unstable heavyset man named Ted and his hungry tiger companion, Snowflake. Saying the wrong word led the geek to be on the receiving end of the pair's wrath.

"Get him Snowflake!" Ted commanded.

The tiger continues to approach the geek, bearing her fangs.

"Nice kitty?" Cody nervously said while trying to back away.

The tiger roars violently before charging at him. Cody tries to flee but could not hope to outrun the savage feline. Snowflake tackles him and swings her paw across the geek's chest.

"GAAAAAAAH!" Cody screamed in pain from the sharp claws scraping against his chest.

Fortunately the wound wasn't too deep into the geek's torso, but the tiger prepared for another swipe. Thinking quickly, the small but agile geek scurries from under the feline before more damage could be inflicted. The tiger turned around and prepares to give chase again. However, the feline gets distracted by three oncoming zombies who stumbled over to their area. Snowflake, sensing the threat charged at the group of corpses.

"No Snowflake, not them!" Ted hollered at the feline as she claws each corpse down.

Cody had to act quickly before the tiger reverts her attention back to him. He noticed a high ledge suspending above the area and knew higher elevations can keep him safe from the beast. Cody ran for dear life trying to reach the higher ground just as Snowflake finished ripping down the enemy undead. She then turned back at the geek, just as foretold, and gives chase again.

"Not good!" the geek said in a panic while rushing to the upper ledge.

The beast grows nearer and nearer towards Cody. Just as the geek's hand reached the ledge, Snowflake lunges at him with both claws pointed out in his direction. While Cody lifts his body up to the higher level, the tiger's paws barely missed his ankle. Cody sighed after finally being safe from the beast as it tries to reach the geek.

"Grrr… stupid fresh meat!" Ted yelled in frustration.

Now eluding the large feline, Cody takes a second to catch his breath on the high stone ledge of the Mayan casino architecture. This moment of relief was short-lived, because Ted went and grabbed the geek's pistol.

"Hehehe… Ted have you now!" the psychopath yelled as he pointed the firearm up at Cody from the bottom level of the Casino.

Things get worse and worse for Cody. First he lost his weapons. Then a tiger is running lose all over the Yucatan Casino. Now her "slow" caretaker is shooting at the geek. Cody scurried away, narrowly avoiding each oncoming bullet. The geek had to think of solutions, the first being what weapon he could use against Ted and Snowflake. Hiding behind a Mayan statue from the shooter, Cody looked around for something to use. All that was within reach for the geek was a suspended tiki torch.

"It will have to do" the geek said while grabbing the lit torch.

The geek had to focus on one foe at a time and the slow moving, and thinking, shooter was the easier one. With Cody out of reach, Snowflake reverted to taking out zombies around the casino leaving just Ted going after the geek. Seizing the opportunity of an occupied Snowflake and a reloading Ted, Cody jumped from the high ledge and swung his tiki torch hard against Ted, causing the psychopath to fall backwards.

"Ow! Stupid stupid stupid!" the berserk Ted said as he angrily got back up. Putting away his gun, the psychopath then pulled out a fire axe. Theodore swung the axe at geek. Cody tried to block it with his tiki torch, but the wooden torch was only split in half.

"Hehe…"

The geek put away the upper half of the tiki torch by sticking it down his back pocket. Just as Ted went for his next swing, the geek rolled to the side and made off for the weapon that was previously stolen from him, the nailbat. The geek ran and grabbed said weapon and once again charged at Ted.

"Snowflake!" the psychopath beckoned for his companion.

The tiger heard the call and turned back at Cody from across the casino. It roared deafeningly at the geek and took charge. Now that the ledge of salvation was too far away, Cody had to find another means of a high ground. Luckily this was a casino, which had plenty to climb up of. Cody ran to the nearest aisle of slot machines. Climbing up one, he was safe from Snowflake once more. Unfortunately, Ted was another issue who pulled out the pistol once again. Running down the slot machines, the geek flees the line of fire and down the Yucatan Casino.

Since Cody was again out of reach, Snowflake returned to fending off the intervening undead who were just as much pests to psychopaths as to Cody. With the tiger distracted, Cody jumped off the slot machine aisle on the other side while Ted was still pursuing. The geek pulled out his nailbat once again and readies it for the oncoming psychopath who was just around the slot corner. Just as Ted made his turn, the geek swung the spiked club hard against the "slow" caretaker's chest.

"AAAUGHH!" Ted screamed in agony as the nails tear up his flesh.

Now angrier than ever, the oversized psychopath grabs the geek by his scalp and head butts him hard against his own skull. Cody fell to ground in pain as well.

"Now stay down!" Ted ordered as he pulled out his fire axe.

Swinging the axe down, he barely missed the geek as Cody rolled to the side again in a knick of time. Quickly getting up, Cody gave a swift kick to the back of Ted's thigh and reducing the psychopath to his knees. Now gaining the upper hand again, Cody gave another swing of his nailbat against Ted's head.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGHH!" the psychopath screamed from the pain of the nails and the blunt base once more.

"Now call off the tiger!" Cody commanded.

Holding his bleeding scalp, Ted only smiled back at the geek.

"What?"

Slowly looking back, Snowflake was right there and tackles the geek just as he turned back at her.

"Finish him Snowflake! Finish the bad person!"

The tiger, maintaining a firm hold on the geek, bites into Cody's shoulder.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Cody screamed in his own agony as the maw clamps into his shoulder bone.

Releasing the bite, Snowflake then prepares to impale the geek with its paw. Despite the clear danger in front of him, Cody felt something burning under him as well. The geek reached around his back pocket to pull out the burning end of the half tiki torch. He points the flame at the savage feline and it frightens the beast off from the fighting pair. The geek finally has a chance to get up but an oncoming fire axe breaks his breathe of relief.

Cody was now out of his friendly mood and furious of all that had transpired in this fight. He parried the axe with his nailbat. Not wasting any time, he gets the spiked club loose again and swings it hard against the slow moving psychopath's back. Before Ted even has a chance to scream, the geek swings it again into Ted's thighs.

"We're ending this!" Still not holding back, the geek gives one last swing downward and slams the nails back into the psychopath's scalp before finally jumping back, allowing Ted to give his last reaction.

Ted weakly stumbled away and then fell to the floor.

"Ugh!" He muttered when hitting the ground.

The defeated psychopath is reduced to crawling away from the geek.

"Ted no feel so good…" the defeated psychopath lamented.

Theodore whimpered while continuing to crawl.

"Snowflake?" he then called out, "Kitty? Come kitty! Are you still hungry girl?"

Tears can be heard from the tone of the slow man's voice.

"Take me, Snowflake!"

The psychopath then rolled over on his back.

"Ted feed you! Ted take care of you!"

Ted whimpered.

"Fresh meat… just for you, kitty…"

Ted's voice just got weaker and weaker from there.

"Kitty… kitty… time for… supper…"

Theodore's head turns to the side as he now lies there lifelessly.

Cody looked down at the poor man's death and depressingly frowned, "Yet another person I couldn't save…"

Tears start coming from the geek's eye sockets but he quickly wiped them off.

"No… now's not the time to be weak, Cody" the geek tells himself, "Be strong and hold it in when out here, you have all the time in the world to let it out when you are in the safehouse…"

The geek's attention was diverted, for Snowflake was back, while still having the intent of killing the kid. The beast roared again and took charge once more. The geek quickly was on the run from the feline. As the beast gets closer and closer, Cody, while being reckless, tripped over a casino refreshment cart being mindlessly pushed by a zombified showgirl. Now released from her impulsive duty, the zombie woman turns against Cody but is then attacked by Snowflake.

Cody was now more exhausted than ever, was hardly strong enough to even move. He had to think of something before it was too late. The geek then notices something smoking inside the cart he just tripped from. Pulling it out, revealed to be a cooked steak which must've been made just before the outbreak. Ignoring the current predicaments Cody couldn't help but be drawn by the flank of meat but his focus returned once Snowflake was growling back at him again after dispatching the zombie.

"This is the end…" the geek sadly said, now that the tiger was about to finish the geek off. Snowflake leaned over at him and reopened her maw. Cody only closed his eyes, ready for his end to come. The tiger bit into her meal and began consuming. Cody reopened his eyes to see her meal was not the geek, but the steak he currently held. He quickly gets back up but is too hurt to begin running from the beast while she's eating.

After finishing her meal, Snowflake looks up at the geek and approaches him.

"Woah… good kitty…" the geek nervously said as the feline circles him.

The beast growls and lunges at his direction. Cody tries to protect himself but sees Snowflake pass him and swipes down a sneaking zombie from behind the geek. Finishing off the corpse, the tiger approaches Cody again.

"…" Cody had no idea what to do as Snowflake just stands there before him.

He slowly walks away but the beast follows him. Finally putting two and two together, the geek realizes that the tiger calls Cody her caretaker now.

The geek gave the beast a gap-toothed grin, "Human or animal, you are a survivor too, I guess… hehe…"

Suddenly, a thought came to mind for the geek.

"Justin!"

The geek and his tiger companion ran around the Yucatan Casino calling out for the mode while taking down zombies along the way.

"JUSTIN! ARE YOU AROUND? JUSTIN?"

"Cody?" the Hawaiian hunk, who was taking cover behind a bar, raised his head up to see the geek.

"Dude, let's go! We have to take you to the safehouse!" Cody informed.

"Safehouse?" Justin questioned.

"Yeah, I know a way in through an air duct, now come on!"

"But the zombies! They're everywhere! I'm too beautiful to die!" Justin begins weeping in an undignified manner, "I want my mommy!"

The geek only sighed, "Crying out here is gonna get you killed, now come on!"

Sensing Cody's anger, Snowflake growled at the model.

"Umm… okay…" the Hawaiian fearfully complied and hopped over the bar to the pair, "How far away is it?"

"We got a long trek to make, so come on!" the geek ordered.

"Yes'm"

Cody, Justin, and Snowflake all begin the trek out of the Yucatan Casino and to the safehouse.

****Trent****

Trent finally made it back to the safehouse after parting ways with the reporter. He proceeds to head back to the camera room where everyone was talking over the situation of the musician's framing.

"I should have known you two were in cahoots the first moment you set foot in the place"

Was the first thing Trent heard from Sullivan as he approached the doorway into the camera room of the safehouse.

"You've caused nothing but trouble" Sullivan continued.

"CURE is innocent! It's a setup!" Stacey argued as Trent neared closer and closer to the room.

"After you put this whole bunker at risk, you expect me to believe that?" the aged security officer rebutted just as the musician enters the room.

"Hey!" Trent said just as he set foot inside.

Sullivan turns to the musician, "Oh, well, lookie here. Man of the hour, Trent Smith… I shoulda listened to my gut and kicked you out when you first got here"

Trent glared back at him, "Sullivan, I have nothing to do with this!"

"I saw it on TV. Saw YOU, buddy. Explain how that little trick works."

"Wasn't me on the tape. It was someone in my show outfit," Trent informed, "Look, I don't care whether you believe me or not. I've got three days till the military gets here to prove that I'm innocent. I'll hand myself over if we haven't got any proof by then. I'm just asking for a fair shot"

"Ahem," None other than Rebecca Chang, the reporter, cuts in after walking into the room. She turned to Trent, "You could have told me the front door was locked…"

Sullivan recalls her face, "Hey, you're that TV lady…" the aged security guard turns back to Trent as well, "I'll make you a deal. You and your chums keep rounding folks up, you can keep coming and going. You die out there and we'll have to leave it to the devil to sort you out. But ain't no one gonna cover your ass when the military arrives," just before he leaves the room he points at the musician, "You pull anything… anything… and I'll do whatever I have to do"

Watching him leave with the rest, Rebecca asks, "What was that all about?"

"He watches too much TV," Trent sternly responded.

"Tell me you found something" Stacey requested.

"We went to central security, but somebody got up there before us," Trent informed, "Everything was smashed. All the tapes were gone"

While Trent became the bearer of bad news, Rebecca scanned the room with her personal video recorder, recording footage of everyone in said room.

"Do you mind?" Gwen said, clearly not excited of being shot at in any way.

Closing her camera, Rebecca turns to the CURE leader, "Stacey, I'm Rebecca Chang. Channel Six Action News. I'm here to help" she said as she reached out to offer a handshake.

Stacey was not as keen to offer back, "Oh. You'll have to excuse me if I don't think it's very helpful that you accused my organization a crime we didn't commit"

"Look, I don't know what's going on here, but clearly things are not as they seem. I put the information I had at the time," the reporter defended.

Trent cut back in, "Remember, you can have all the exclusives you want if you help us figure out what's going on here"

"Works for me," Rebecca smiled back, "Whether you're innocent… or guilty… I just want the truth"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" Gwen sneered back at her.

"Okay, we'll work together" Stacey answered for the group, "I'll keep an eye on these monitors"

"And I'm going back out there to see what I can find out," Rebecca said as she jetted out the door.

"And I'll let you know if I see anything" Stacey also tells the musician.

"Well, I guess I should be looking for more survivors…" Trent said while preparing to leave again.

"Trent, wait!" Gwen halted him.

"What is it?"

"You… sure you can just go back out there? I mean, you fought those zombies and a handful of flesheaters" the goth reminded him.

"Well if I took five now, Sullivan is gonna flip" the musician rebutted, "I know I'm still a bit exhausted from running around the mall with a bat, hammer, and guitar axe, but if I don't go out, no one will"

"I'll go" Gwen announced.

"Gwen?" Trent asked.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Stacey was just as skeptical.

"As an avid horror fan, I know the zombie psyche better than anyone," the goth boasted, "And there's no way I'm letting you and Cody do all the work"

Trent was unconvinced, "Still Gwen, if something were to happen to you…"

"…I'll be fine!"

Trent only sighed in defeat.

"Hey, speaking of survivors, I see two girls in the Americana Casino" Stacey cut in.

"Really?"

"They look like twins, no wait, they just dress alike"

"Katie and Sadie!" Trent and Gwen say at once.

"Looks like they barricaded themselves inside the BBQ Shack, a restaurant in that casino" the CURE leader informed.

"Where is the casino?" the goth asked.

"Not too far away, just enter the Royal Flush Plaza from the duct and make a right. The entrance is right there"

"Got it, thanks!" Gwen eagerly got up and headed out the door, "I'll be just fine Trent"

"Good luck, Gwen…" Trent said back to her, before exhaustedly falling back onto the security room couch.

After she left, Stacey smiled at the musician, "I have a feeling your girlfriend will do okay"

Trent frowned, "She's not my girlfriend…"

"Really? I thought you two really clicked"

"We broke up…"

Stacey finally felt the awkward tension, "I… see…"

Trent leaves the room, not wanting to hear any more awkward statements, to see Alejandro waiting for him grinning.

"And I thought I carried a grudge for the rest of the cast," Alejandro sneered at the musician.

Trent only glared at him and proceeded into the cafeteria room.

****Gwen****

Walking down the corridor, she sees three zombies approaching her. The goth turned to the side, to see a lead pipe laying next to her. Picking it up, she smirks at the undead while readying the weapon.

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 66:30:59**

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****A/N: Why the rooftops? Why must all the OC's be on the rooftops? Makes it harder for the characters to come across them on the way to their own situations DX, but I digress. The first OC is gonn appear next chapter so stay tuned then, hehe...**


	6. BFFD!

**A/N: Man this chap was a tough one to write. Anyways, I know I am a dick for telling you all this now, but OC's are just as susceptible to death as regular characters. I'm sorry for all who have to cope, but this is a horror story after all. Also, I should inform you that I may be altering the position your OC's find themselves in for the sake of the storyline, as you will notice with one of this chapter's guest appearances.  
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Time Before Military Arrives: 66:30:58**

****Gwen****

The goth readied her lead pipe before the three zombies that approaches her in the corridor between the air duct and the Royal Flush Plaza. Her mission was to find her way to the Americana Casino to find Katie and Sadie who were barricading themselves in the BBQ shack restaurant inside the casino. The first undead corpse lunges at her with voracious intent. Gwen smirks and smashes her weapon across the zombie's head with full force.

"Basic zombie principle… always aim for the head" the goth stated.

The other two zombies try to grab her but the loner quickly jumped back and gave another good swing to take them down with ease.

"Alright, hang on Katie and Sadie, I'm coming!" Gwen confidently said as she left the dark hallway and into the Royal Flush Plaza.

****Cody****

Cody, Justin, and the geek's newly tamed tiger, Snowflake exited the Yucatan Casino and enter the outdoor store chain that was the Silver Strip. As each of them step outside, they see mobs upon mobs of the undead horde.

"It's hopeless! There's no way we can get past all those alive!" Justin whined.

"Calm down, Justin" Cody tried to mellow the model out, "We just need to improvise"

Cody looked around to see a two-by-four lying near the casino door. Picking it up, he hands Justin the wooden beam.

"But using this could damage my nails" the vain model continued to complain.

Snowflake growled at Justin to shut him up.

"Okay, let's move out!" the geek commanded while pulling out his nailbat.

The three ran together, trying to fight their way through towards the park entrance to the Royal Flush Plaza. Avoiding fights when necessary, they elude zombie after zombie to make their way through. Cody valiantly took each intercepting corpse down with his spiked bat while Snowflake clawed them down from the back side. Justin, however, only fearfully holds his two-by-four close to him.

"Keep up, Justin!" the geek told the model.

"…Yes'm!"

More and more of the undead attack the group while they made their way down the Silver Strip. Fortunately for Snowflake, animal hide doesn't attract flesh eaters like human hide does. As the three fought tooth and nail and claw, they come across the diner Cody had met Tyler at with something new going on this time.

"Something is going inside that diner over there!" Cody informed.

"Do we really have to check it out?" the cowardly model questioned.

"Could be another survivor"

Much to Justin's dismay, Cody, with Snowflake, peeks in the eatery. Inside, they see a group of hooded thugs, greatly resembling the pharmacy looters, beating on a homeless person.

"Look at this piece of shit!" one of the looters taunted.

"Looks like even zombies got standards!" another looter added.

"Ugh…" the helpless bum groaned from the thugs' abuse while curled up in the fetal position, trying to protect something.

"Not even worth the dirt he's covered in…"

Taking exception to the looters' cruelty, Cody walks into the diner.

"Leave him alone!"

The three looters turn at the scrawny geek with cold grins under their bandanas.

"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it, shrimp?" one of the looters taunted.

"We have three of us! We all have tire irons! What do you have?" Another coldly questioned.

The geek grinned, "I have a tiger."

As if on cue, Snowflake steps in and growls angrily at the thugs.

"…Touché…" the lead looter conjectured before following his group into leaping out of the diner window.

After grinning over his triumph, Cody then ran to the beaten bum, "You okay mister?"

The homeless man gives out a weak cough, "Thanks sonny"

The hobo slowly gets up and revealed that he was holding a small kitten.

"Why do you have a cat?" Justin inquired after walking inside as well.

"He and I were hungry and this place served fish" the middle-aged bum informed.

"Well there is plenty of food back in the safehouse, come with us and we'll take you there" the geek informed.

"That sounds alright son, the name's Sanders" the gruff, bearded bum introduced.

"Cool, I'm Cody and this coward is Justin" the geek happily responded in kind. Cody then looked around and sees one of the looters had dropped his tire iron. Picking it up, he hands it to the bum, "This should help you out, Sanders"

"Thanks, sonny" the bum said while taking the weapon with one arm and holding his feline companion with the other.

"Guys, I hate break the moment," Justin cut in, "but the zombies caught wind of our stay here, and they've mobbed the deck outside!"

"Not good…" the geek responded.

"There's a back door to here that will take us around the diner" Sanders informed.

"Great, come on Snowflake!" Cody happily ushered the tiger to the back door while Sanders followed carrying his kitten.

"…I was always more of a dog person…" Justin muttered to himself while following the other four.

****Gwen****

The goth fends off more zombies back in the Royal Flush Plaza.

Looking around, she tells himself, "Okay, Stacey said the Americana Casino was just to the right…" Gwen turned to see a set of doors below a neon sign that said the place she was looking for, "There!"

Unfortunately, the doors were crowded by a mob of flesheaters. Gwen needed a more reliable weapon for crowd control than her lead pipe. To the corner of her eye, she sees a severed hand lying on the mall floor.

"Well, zombies tend to go for the easier meal…"

Grabbing the chunk of flesh, she throws it to the side of the glass doors. The undead were instantly drawn to the bait and stumble away from their current location and to the severed hand. Seizing the opportunity, Gwen made off past them and into the Americana Casino. Entering the casino, Gwen was taken back by all the lighting from the slot machines, center bar, and the patriotic décor.

"Now where is that shack?" the goth asked herself.

"Is someone there!" a female voice in the distance calls out after hearing Gwen.

"Yeah, where are you!" Gwen hollered back.

"In the money booth!"

Finding the chamber that predominantly used to contain an individual to grab flying paper money, Gwen sees a woman taking refuge while zombies try to get inside at her. The goth rushed to the booth and takes down the zombies with her lead pipe. After dispatching the mob, Gwen helps the woman out of the money booth.

"You okay?" the goth asked.

"I'm fine thank you," the woman said graciously, "I'm looking for a man named Garry, have you seen him?"

"No I haven't, who are you?" Gwen asked again.

"My name's Sam. Garry and I were celebrating my twenty-first birthday here before the outbreak, and now we've separated from each other!"

"Okay, calm down," Gwen comforts, "I'm sure we can find him somewhere. First, I need to find some friends of my own"

"Alright, and thank you!"

The goth grabbed a croupier from a nearby craps table and hands the tourist the stick to use for the time being. They then turned towards the casino's main restaurant, Bennie Jack's BBQ Shack.

***BANG!***

A gunshot was heard from inside the BBQ Shack.

"What was that?" Sam nervously asked.

Gwen leads her past some zombies and over the barricade that kept them from the barbecue restaurant. The shack had two floors to it and constructed with brick walling. It also had a back kitchen and a large inflated grilled pig hanging over the entire place. As soon as Sam entered with the goth, her eyes couldn't believe what they see.

"GARRY!" she screamed as she ran to the lifeless man's side and sadly whimpered over his death. His chest was wide open and bloody after receiving a shotgun slug which sound had drawn the girls to the scene.

"How did this happen?" Gwen asked herself before the shooter revealed herself, "Sadie?"

None other than the bigger BFF was trembling fearfully while shakily holding a Mossberg 500 Cruiser shotgun. Her eyes were bloodshot with terror.

"Sadie, what have you done?" The goth fearfully questioned.

"STAY BACK! JUST STAY BACK!" The panicked chubby girl said while shaking her shotgun, "He tried to hurt her… he tried to hurt my best friend!"

"What are you talking about?" the goth asked.

Sadie ran to the side of Katie who was sitting at one of the table booths of the restaurant, "Katie, don't worry. We are going to find a way out of here! I promise!"

"Okay…" the other BFF weakly responded, "…just hurry… I feel so woozy…"

Gwen approached the two as they talked, "Katie? What happened?"

"She's a little sick from running, that's all" Sadie answered for her before embracing her best friend, "Katie, I don't care what anyone else says. I'll never leave you behind! What are BFF's for?"

Sam raised her head after bawling for her fallen friend, "You bitch! You fucking killed Garry!"

Sadie glared back and walked up to the tourist, "NO ONE IS GOING TO HURT KATIE! NO ONE!"

"Sadie, calm down," Gwen intervened while following her, "I know we can find a way to settle this peacefully"

From behind the goth, Katie, out of nowhere, tackles Gwen.

"Katie! What the hell are you…" Gwen paused after her eyes widen to see the other BFF, fully zombified, trying to tear into the goth's flesh. The once friendly glossy lips of Katie were replaced by the foamy puss of an undead sweet girl. Her eyes only showed her sclera and her skin already begins to pale with rot. In a state of panic, Gwen smacks her hard across the skull with her lead pipe.

"KATIE!" Sadie screamed as Katie is thrown down the restaurant floor after impact of the blunt object. She turned back to the goth, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, GWEN?"

"Sadie… she was a zombie…" Gwen tearfully informed, "There was… nothing we could have done…"

"YOU TOOK MY BEST FRIEND AWAY FROM ME!" Sadie shrieked at the goth while readying her shotgun, "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

****Cody****

Cody, Justin, Snowflake, the bum, Sanders and his kitten, made out the backdoor of the diner to elude the mobbing undead. As they ran around the building, the alley taking them back to the strip didn't look much better for the group. Cody frowned after inspecting his nailbat, which was starting to wear out after using it against Ted and so many zombies.

"It's hopeless…" Justin whined again, "…Why me? Why must they all go after the pretty ones?"

Cody looked behind them to see another maintenance door at the back of the alley. Next to the red double doors was an old push mower that sat idly by. The geek's ingenuity kicked in once again.

Turning to the model, Cody requested, "Justin, hand me your two-by-four"

Skeptical, the Hawaiian hunk complied and gives the geek his piece of lumber. Cody takes it and pushes the lawn mower into the maintenance room. Resting the push mower onto the work bench inside, the geek takes his two-by-four and saws it into four wooden planks. Turning to the lawnmower, the geek detached the entire handlebar from it and then duct tapes the four planks onto the top of the remainder of said mower.

"Watcha got there, son?" Sanders asked curiously.

Cody gives everyone his patented gap toothed grin, "Gentleman, the Codeman gives you… the Porta-Mower!"

Pulling the recoil starter rope, the handleless push mower was carried by the taped on wood as its blades spun from the other side.

"Umm… what are you gonna do with that?" the model asked nervously.

The geek grinned again and leads the team with his new weapon. Being followed by the others, the geek runs the easy to carry mower and slices through the crowd of zombies down the alley with the Porta-Mower's circular blades. Just by shifting the customized weapon against the undead, the blades sliced through them like butter as rotten flesh and guts fly every which way like cut grass.

"Unreal…" Justin complimented astonishingly as the Porta-Mower made quick work at creating a trail for the survivors to follow down the Silver Strip.

"We'll be at the safehouse in no time!"

****Gwen****

"SADIE CALM DOWN!" The goth screamed as she took cover behind the counter.

"SHE WAS MY EVERYTHING!" the Sadie psychopath screamed as she fired her shotgun in the goth's direction.

Gwen ran for dear life in the BBQ Shack restaurant while a crazed Sadie was shooting at her. Now taking cover by running up the stairs, the goth flees from the newly developed psychopath. The plump BFF aimed her firearm at Gwen once again and fires as she was running up to the second level.

"UGH!" Gwen winced in pain as the slug barely nicked her arm. Escaping with minimal damage, Gwen hides underneath one of the tables standing on the second floor.

"She totally lost it…" Gwen whispered to herself as the crazed BFF slowly walked up the stairs after her on the top level of the BBQ Shack.

"You'll pay… Gwen… You'll pay for what you did to her…" Sadie calmly yet psychotically muttered while slowly patrolling the floor. She readies her shotgun for the first movement that was made in her line of sight.

Time was running out for Gwen. The goth bit her lip in frustration, scolding herself for being so helpless when she had always been envisioning hypothetical solutions to zombie apocalypses since she was four. Despite how acquainted she had been with her fellow Total Drama contestants since her loner days, she needed to remember zombie survival rule number five… No attachments.

Sadie continued to search for the goth and notices a trail of red blood drops on the tile.

"Hmm… I wonder where Gwen could be…"

The goth gets nervous after hearing her say that. From the corner of her eye, she sees a trail of crimson leading to where her arm got struck earlier.

Psycho Sadie aims her shotgun at the table that Gwen was hiding under, "This is for Katie…"

Suddenly, a croupier stick is thrown at Sadie from behind. The disgruntled BFF recoiled in pain and turned back at its thrower.

"That was for Garry!" Sam screamed after throwing the weapon.

Sadie was in no mood to yield as she points her shotgun back at the tourist and fired. Sam quickly took cover under the brick rails that stood between the shooter and the stairs. This diversion was what Gwen needed to tackle Sadie from behind and attempts to disarm her. The goth tries to remove the firearm from Sadie's grip but the BFF keeps her hold onto it. In her raged adrenaline, Sadie pulls free and slams the butt of the shotgun against Gwen's face, knocking her back to the ground.

"FOR KATIE!" Sade screamed as she aims the gun at the goth and pulls the trigger once more.

***click!***

"Shit!" Sadie cursed as she reloads the shotgun.

Gwen wasn't going to take the opportunity for granted and bludgeoned Sadie with her lead pipe. After impact, Sadie falls to the ground motionlessly. The goth looked down at her and gives out a sigh of relief

"You did it!" the tourist happily cheered.

Gwen brushes herself off as Sam walked up to her.

"Hopefully that should keep her down for awhile" the goth said as she walked up to a table and cleaned her wound with a napkin, "I just hope we can help her get over all that happened with Katie when she comes through…"

"…But Garry…" Sam disputed the idea of letting Sadie off the hook.

"Losing yourself in rage is exactly what caused Sadie to become this way" Gwen reminded, "I don't know what I'd do if I lose Duncan, Trent, or Cody. If something had happened to just one of them, I would just… But handling a zombie outbreak is as much a mental trial as a physical one"

"GWEN, BEHIND YOU!"

Just as the goth turned around, Sadie had her firearm ready and fired a loaded shot. Time seemed to nearly halt as the slug nearly became visible for Gwen as she narrowly jumps to the side of the projectile. During her time in the air, the goth cursed herself for forgetting zombie survival rule number two… Double tap.

"You won't dodge this time!" Sadie yelled as she fired again, this time hitting Gwen's thigh.

"GAAAAAHH!" Gwen screamed in anguish after receiving the wound to her limb and dropping her lead pipe.

Sadie readies her shotgun for a third and final bang, but Sam ran and tackled her. Not having a weapon on her at the time, the tourist could only try to disarm the BFF as well. Sadie, in her psychopathic adrenaline, got the upper hand by knocking Sam back towards the ledge of the BBQ Shack's second floor. Sadie then smacked Sam with the blunt end of the shotgun before turning back to Gwen.

The goth had just seconds to think of something to survive with. Being cornered in a table booth provided little options for her. However, one of the few alternatives was a serving tray lying on the table she was next to. Grabbing it, Gwen lunges at Sadie and smacked her hard across the face with the hard plastic tray. The impact was strong enough to throw Sadie back and over the fenced ledge. The crazed BFF plummets back down the bottom floor on her back.

"Ugh…" Sadie groaned in pain as her crash immobilized her.

She weakly lifted her head, to see a figure approaching her.

"Katie? Is that you?"

None other than a zombified sweet girl approached the fallen Sadie, after recovering from a lead pipe, with hungry, pupiless eyes.

Sadie gave a large smile back to her, "I knew you were okay, Katie! No one would separate us! Nothing will ever separate us!"

Katie gave no response as she stumbled next to Sadie and crouched to her level. The undead BFF then opened her jaws and sank her teeth into Sadie's stomach, tearing out her intestines right in front of her. In Sadie's warped state of mind, she gave to scream of agony.

"It's okay, Katie!" Sadie psychotically yelled, "Take all you need! In the end, we'll be together! Forever! BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!"

Gwen and Sam both cringe after watching the grisly act of one BFF to the other from the second floor of the BBQ shack. The goth tearfully shut her eyes, silently mourning the horrid deaths of the two girls she became so acquainted with since back on the island.

"This must've been what Cody had felt with Beth…" she lamented. Then Gwen recalled the pain to her leg, "Ugh… getting back to the safehouse is going to be hard…"

"Safehouse?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, there's an air duct to it not too far from here," the goth informed, "But this leg is going to take time to heal… I'm just glad it missed my femoral artery"

"I was a nurse back home, maybe I can help when we get there" the tourist offered.

"That will come in handy," Gwen responded, "Just help me get there and I'll guide you along the way"

As Sam assisted in helping Gwen walk out of the restaurant, they try their best into avoiding staring at the sickening feast of Sadie from Katie.

****Cody****

The geek continued to literally mow down the undead horde as he leads the tiger, the model, and the bum through the park of Fortune City. Eventually, they finally reached the entrance to the Royal Flush Plaza. Dispatching the door crowd with his Porta-Mower, the geek leads the group inside.

"Just down to the other side of the mall and we'll be there!" Cody happily informed.

"Good, the sooner we're out of here, the better!" the model responded.

Cody continued to get chop happy with his new weapon while Snowflake helps the cause by clawing down other intercepting undead. Sanders also helps by swinging his tire iron against a zombie from behind. Justin only huddled in the middle of the group, too frightened to get too close to one of the walking corpses. However, after chopping after chopping, the Porta-Mower's blades have given in just as the contraption ran out of gas.

"Don't give up now, we're almost there!" Cody said optimistically after dropping his worn weapon.

In no time at all, they finally reached the double doors that would take them to the corridor that leads them to the air duct. Just as Cody's hand touched the door handle, a pale one grabs his.

"AH!" the geek jumps back, fearing he was in the grip of a zombie.

"Cody it's me!" Gwen informed as she and Sam meets up with his group.

"Gwen?" The geek was struck with awe, "What are you doing out here?"

"I would like to ask you the same," Gwen angrily said as she smacked the geek across the face, "What the HELL were you thinking just running off out of the bunker like that?"

The geek nearly fell to floor after the impact of the slap, "…I saw Tyler on the monitor and Trent was busy with his own problems so I thought…"

"You thought you could climb into hell and back and no one would have a problem with it?" the goth angrily inquired.

Cody frowned sadly back at her, "I'm sorry…"

The goth sighed back at him, "Well, let's just take everyone to the safehouse then… wait… is that a tiger?"

The geek grinned back at her as the beast nuzzles the geek, "Her name's Snowflake, I found her on the other side of the Yucatan Casino. Also I found Justin!"

Gwen was even more astonished after realizing the Hawaiian hunk had been found, "Wow, Cody… I am impressed," she then frowned after recalling a certain event that happened on the goth's part of the resort, "I found Katie and Sadie… but…"

Cody looked back at her as she paused and figured the main details out himself.

"Can't this wait 'til we actually get to the safehouse?" Justin cut in, fearful of the approaching undead.

Breaking the tension, Gwen, Cody, Justin, Snowflake, Sam, and Sanders, with his kitten, all run down the dark corridor that would finally take them to the air duct. Taking turns crawling through, they ultimately reach the safehouse at last.

"Thanks so much, sonny" Sanders expressed his scruffy appreciation towards the geek.

"Gonna be hard moving past Garry, but thank you for rescuing me" Sam also expressed gratitude.

The two and the bum's kitten departed into the halls of the safehouse. After they left, Trent walks to the group from the security room.

Justin turned to Gwen and Cody, "Well I guess I'll make myself at home too, and thanks… I guess" the model than followed the other two down said hallways past Trent.

"Guys, you're okay!" the musician happily stated as Gwen and Cody stumble towards him.

"Yeah… we managed to get by fine out there, hehe," Cody responded with a grin.

Sullivan and Stacey also enter the area. After seeing the tiger, the aged security officer pulled out his pistol.

"Wait!" Cody said as he jumped in front of the feline, "She's tame!"

Sullivan eyes him suspiciously, "Bad enough we risk the infected coming in here, now we gotta watch out for that animal of yours?"

"I'll keep an eye on her, I promise" the geek assured.

Sullivan puts away his gun, "Fine… just keep that thing leashed somewhere out of the way"

No longer interested in the scene, he proceeds to walk away.

However, he does turn back at Trent before leaving, "Those two shouldn't be the only ones pulling their weight in rescuing survivors…"

Sighing after he finally left, Trent turned to the other two who had returned. He noticed Cody had a tiger bitten shoulder and Gwen had a shot leg, "You both need medical attention after all that! This place has a makeshift medical clinic in it, both of you go there, now"

In no condition to argue, Gwen and Cody comply and head towards said clinic. Entering the medical room, Sam and the nurse from the pharmacy both help bandage the two up. In no time at all, their wounds were closed up under wraps.

Walking out, Cody turned to Gwen, "Was it as hard for you as it was for me?"

"What do you mean?" the goth questioned.

"About Katie and Sadie…"

Gwen frowned once more, "It still hurts… but we need to be strong, Cody… for them and Beth. I saw how confident you were when you brought Justin and the others here. That's the attitude we need to survive this with"

Cody smiled at her, "Okay, I can keep that confidence… for you… and everyone else…"

Gwen smiled back at him and gave him a short but sweet kiss on the forehead, "That's the Codemeister we all know and love. I'm going to check on the monitors, excuse me"

Watching the goth part, Cody kept his grin and turned towards a secluded room. There, Snowflake had been leashed up and Cody closed himself in with her inside. Now in the dark space, the geek could finally set aside his façade at long last. Cody rested his back against a corner of the room…

…and cried.

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 63:15:59**

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A/N: P.S. There will be bigger time skips as the story goes on...  
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	7. Meet the Contestants!

**A/N: Arrg... some chapters get soooo long DX**

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Time Before Military Arrives: 63:15:58**

Trent walked down the darkened halls of the safehouse. Things were unusually silent for the musician.

"Gwen? Cody? Where are you two?" he called out for his two closest friends.

Wandering down the corridors, he hears a sound in one of the rooms. Following the noise, he opens the metal door and peaked in.

"Gwen?" Trent's eyes widened to see the grisly act.

A ravenous Gwen was feasting upon the entrails of a newly slain Cody. The infection had finally taken hold of her as her maw rips into the gory remnants of a once terrified geek.

"Oh God…" was all the musician could say as the zombie goth turned back at him.

She mindlessly growled at Trent and stood up from her geeky meal. Without warning, she lunges at the musician, bearing her decrepit fangs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Trent, wake up!"

The musician snapped out of his dream thanks to Chef, who finished preparing his meal inside the cafeteria room.

"Sorry, hehe, running around a zombie filled resort gets a guy sleepy" Trent said nervously.

"Well, here's lunch" Hatchet said, handing the food to the musician.

Trent, Cody, and Gwen had spent their downtime recovering in the Fortune City Emergency Shelter. As time passed, Trent got more and more restless, knowing every second he spends just twiddling his fingers another person could perish at the hands of the undead or a psychopath.

"Got any fives?" Justin asked Alejandro as the two spent their time in the safehouse playing cards in the cafeteria room as well.

"Go fish, amigo" the Latin responded as the Hawaiian drew another card.

Trent was at the other table as the other two killed time. No longer handling the nothingness that was occurring, the musician gets up and walks to the security room.

"See anything out there?" Trent asked Stacey who was surveying the playback monitors.

"No trace of live activity yet," the CURE leader informed.

Trent grew frustrated, "What are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Well Gwen and Cody still need time to rest up and heal their wounds, so that just leaves you"

"There's gotta be something I can do out there!" Trent pleaded.

"Well, tomorrow Gwen will be needing another dose of Zombrex and it would be a good idea to get some sooner, rather than later" Stacey reminded hum of Gwen's zombie infection.

"Where can I find some more?"

The CURE leader shrugged, "If there's none more in the pharmacy then I don't have a clue"

Trent gave a depressing frown, "Well I can only forage a zombie infested city for so long…"

Stacey turned back at the monitors, "Hey look, I think I see a survivor barricaded up in the movie theatre"

"In the movie theatre? Where's that?"

"Down the Platinum Strip, it's a road that starts right next to the Fortune City Hotel where you first met Rebecca Chang" Stacey reminded.

The musician grinned, "Well it's better than staying here all day, I better help the guy out!"

Trent stepped out and walked towards the air duct. However, he is stopped as a certain gap toothed geek ran to him.

"Trent, wait!" Cody called out.

"What is it, Cody?" the musician asked curiously, "And what do you got there?"

Cody grinned back at Trent, "Well it may be a bit before my wounds heal, so I thought I would assist you in another way. So I just thought that you could use this, I made it after finding the parts around the bunker here. I call it, the Defiler!"

Trent was astonished, looking at the ingenious craft of two duct-taped fire axe heads attached to the handle of a sledge hammer that has been turned onto its side for two blunt ends and two sharp ends with increased mass for a stronger blow from any of the four sides.

The musician chuckled, "Hehe… You came along way from building Gwen's head…"

The geek kept his patented gap-toothed grin as Trent took the modified weapon and crawled down the air duct.

After ten minutes of crawling through, the musician returned to the dark corridor that leads to the Royal Flush Plaza. Trent then made off down the shadowy hall to begin his next mission. Stepping into the mall, the musician makes off down the plaza to the other side of it. Standing in his way were a group of flesheaters eager to sink their teeth into him.

"Well, let's give this a test run" the musician tells himself as he pulled out the Defiler.

All it took was one good swing from the hammer and axe hybrid cleaves the upper half of each zombie it struck. Satisfied with the result, Trent puts away the modified weapon.

"Best I save it for a rainy day"

The musician then looks around for a substitute weapon for the time being. Running past the stores, he kept a good eye on what weapon to use. After running past store after store, he finally passes one that caught his eye above all others. Running into the sporting goods store, he grabs a golf club.

"This should do nicely," Trent said, inspecting the steel putter.

A zombie followed the musician inside the store and lunged at him. Quickly leaping back, Trent then swings his golf club against the rotted head of the corpse. Satisfied by the result, the musician carries his second new weapon out of the store and continues to the Royal Flush Plaza's parkside exit. In no time afterwards, Trent reached said exit and clubbed down the zombies that stood in his way. Quickly eluding the others, he slipped by and out the glass doors.

"Okay," Trent tells himself while pulling out the city brochure, "Looks like I need to head west now"

****Gwen****

Back inside the safehouse, Gwen wandered around the halls. She notices Chris tinkering with some video tapes.

"What are you doing?" the goth inquired the former host.

"Umm… nothing…" Chris nervously responded.

Not buying his fib, Gwen looked at his monitor to see him editing the footage of the goth's fight with Sadie.

"You are sick" Gwen informed with disgust.

Chris shrugged, "What? This is Celebrity Deathmatch for reals!"

Not wanting to bother with the dementia of a televised madman, Gwen proceeded to leave. However, she did get one last glance at the monitor to see the zombified Katie again.

"If I don't get my next Zombrex dose by tomorrow… that will be me next…"

****Trent****

Following the path on the brochure, Trent leaves the park and runs down the Platinum Strip which was on the opposing end of the park from the Silver Strip where Cody went up to the Yucatan Casino. Heading down the former, Trent fought off every undead that crossed his path towards the Movie Theatre. Said destination is what held the survivor he was looking for. As the musician ran, another point of interest caught his eye. It looked like a rundown store, but was occupied by figure moving without a stumble or a stagger.

"I shouldn't keep him waiting, but I might regret not visiting this place later…" Trent tells himself while nervously entering the decrepit store. As he did, the figure he saw revealed to be none other than a looter. Wearing the hoodie and red bandana like the other thugs Trent came across before, this one, however, did not give the musician the same hostility.

Instead, he just asks, "What can I get for you?"

"What?" Trent asked, still astonished by the revelation.

"You came to buy something or what?" the looter asked impatiently from behind a gated counter, shielding him from the undead horde.

"What is this place?"

"A pawnshop, dumbass. We looters steal stuff, and then sell stuff," the looter merchant informed sharply.

"What do you sell?" Trent questioned again.

"Whatever useful things we find. We sell guns, melee weapons, vehicle keys, Zombrex…"

"ZOMBREX?" Trent asked with greater astonishment.

"You bet, buddy"

This was a very pleasant turn of events for the musician. He needed the suppresser so Gwen could live another day. Despite having to make deals with thugs, the ends would justify the means for him. Trent happily took out his wallet.

"That will be twenty-five thousand dollars"

"…," Trent turned quiet for a moment, "T…t…twenty-five thousand dollars? For MEDICATION?"

"Listen buddy," the looter enlightened, "Zombrex does not come cheap. It never did. Most actual stores charge three hundred dollars a box. But since the outbreak, supply is a bit behind the demand, so us looters want to earn a bit more chub for our change"

Trent's eyes widen after hearing this. Zombrex, the controversial drug costs three hundred dollars even on a regular basis outside an outbreak. To think one would have to spend that much EVERY DAY. Even if Gwen makes it out of the city alive, for her to have to continue on, spending a ridiculous amount of money on a consistent basis, it's just insane.

"If you don't have the money, I'm sure there are plenty of pharmacies here that will gladly sell you some for just three hundred… hehe…" The looter sneered at the musician with his sarcasm.

Trent only sadly walked away, unable to do anything to get the Zombrex at this pawnshop.

"DAMMIT!" the musician screamed in frustration over his helpless predicament.

"IS SOMEONE THERE?" a scream was heard coming from the movie theatre across the street.

Trent was instantly reminded of his original task. He followed the sound of the voice into the building that read Paradise Platinum Screens.

"ANYONE?" The voice hollered once more.

Fending off the zombies that crowded the admission counter, Trent made his way into the screening room. As soon as he stepped in, he was nearly blinded by the bright projection of a cheesy love scene that played. As his eyes recovers from the bright room, he noticed a mohawked figure surrounded by a horde of flesheaters.

"Duncan?" Trent silently asked as his eyes continue to make out the figure shrouded in the light of the movie projection. After fully making out the shadow, it revealed to be not Duncan, but another man with a different styled Mohawk and was blue. He wore a plain black T-shirt, blue jeans, and black converse.

"Hey dude, wanna help a fellow out?" he beckoned the musician as he stood on the stage surrounded by the undead mob.

Trent snapped out of his daze and ran to the mobbing copses and pulled out the Defiler. The hammer and axe hybrid smashed apart the undead like mashed potatoes. The combined forces of blade and blunt strength made quick work of the mob. After taking down the last one, Trent ran to the survivor's side.

"You okay?" the musician asked.

"Thanks man, but what kept ya?" the blue mohawked man asked.

"Sorry, you just reminded me of someone I know"

"Someone you want dead?"

"Noo… just someone… who has the greatest girl in the world…" Trent sadly lamented, "Who I lost, due to my own insecurity…"

"Hehe… just kidding dude… no biggy. But sorry about the girl, though" the survivor expressed his condolences, "By the way, my name's John, thanks a ton for lending me a hand"

"No problem, my name's Trent. Listen, there's a safehouse where I can take you"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it has all the supplies we need to last before the military arrives in a few days," Trent happily informed.

"Sounds good to me, bro" John said with a grin.

"By the way…" the musician began on a serious note, "You never happened to have ever come across some Zombrex have you?"

The blue mohawked punk shrugged, "Sorry dude, can't say that I have"

"Damn…" Trent frowned once again, "The only one I know is available was the one sold by the looter in the pawnshop I came across… but there is no way I can get twenty-five thousand dollars to pay for it by tomorrow"

"Hehe… those looters are a pain in the ass. They told me help would be found in this theatre, but… you know the rest… Well… since you helped me, maybe I can help you," John offers, "You may not have noticed, but this place has a ton of ATMs"

Trent raised his head in newfound hope, "You're saying we should smash the ATM machines?"

"Won't do any good. Too tough to break into totally. You'd be lucky if two hundred dollars would come out. But fortunately for you, you came to the right metalhead. I know how to tinker with one of those contraptions to spill out more than the required amount to buy some of that Zombrex"

"Really?"

"You bet"

Before Trent could say anything else, he hears his transceiver go off, "What is it, Stacey?"

"Trent, looks like there is another survivor spotted in your vicinity. Just finish walking down the Platinum Strip and he is just in front of the Fortune City Arena building," The CURE leader informed.

"Really?"

"Looks like he is on a bike"

"I'll be right over there," Trent said before hanging up and then mutters, "Shit, why can't I do two things at once?"

"Relax man, just loan me one of your weapons and I can go retrieve the money and get you that Zombrex, go carry on with that detour of yours"

"You sure you can handle the zombies by yourself?" the musician asked skeptically.

"A couple of corpses aren't going to do me in" John scoffed.

Trent caved and hands him his golf club, "Thanks, John"

"No problem bro, you got to have your own skin so you can win back that girl of yours" John grinned before running out of the cinema.

Trent smiled and did the same. The two went separate directions from there. The musician continues down the Platinum Strip to find this new survivor. Eluding the zombie interceptors, he eventually made it to the end of the outdoor strip and the front entrance to the Fortune City Arena. After a minute of looking around, searching for the survivor, the musician hears the sound of a motorcycle closing in fast from behind. Quickly turning around, he sees none other than a green TIR rider driving his Slicecycle straight towards Trent. The musician fearfully tries to take cover just before the modified vehicle makes a turn at the very last second. After hitting the deck to avoid the oncoming chainsaw blades, Trent got back up to see the person being none other than Leon, the same green rider who so coldly mocked him in the Terror is Reality show just before the outbreak. The arrogant contestant pulls over beside the musician.

"Ohhh… well… lookie here," Leon said with his usual cocky attitude, "If it ain't widdle Twenty Smith! Didn't get enough of me yet? You came for my autograph?"

Trent brushed himself off and glares at the arrogant TIR contestant on his Slicecycle which, to be reviewed, was a fully-modified IJIEK 772c Racing Bike (Second-Half 2004 Model), reverse-engineered to incorporate a low center of gravity (LCG) muffler design, a sixteen-valve, 4-stroke, DOHC engine, and, of course, a twin pair of chainsaws and 4 radial blades, attached to a separate engine located within the front fairing.

**(A/N: Yes, I copy and pasted this description, sue me :P)**

"Oh, I bet you just get rrrrrrrrrock hard thinking about me at night, don't you, Trenty?" Leon continued while shimmying his Slicecycle suggestively with the innuendo, "You come to throw your panties at me? Hahahahaha!"

Leon continued to taunt the musician as he starts to do a slow donut around him on his modified bike.

"Whatever buddy," not in the mood for anymore games, Trent changes the subject, "Look, I can take you to the bunker where it's safe…"

Leon slammed on the brakes after circling the musician, "Bunker? Where it's safe? Man, you are a pussy, aren't you?" the arrogant rider then scowls at Trent, "I used to worship you on your show! I bought your band's every album! But look at you now. Since season two, you get yourself into relationship after relationship that all end in self-sabotage. You're a broken man. You just don't got it anymore, do you?"

Trent was getting more frustrated with this guy than ever, "What's your problem?"

"You're such a chump, Trent…"

"HEEEEEEEEEY! TRENT! OVER HERE!" Interrupting the conversation, John had returned after retrieving the Zombrex that Trent had so desperately requested.

Trent was happy to have good company for once and even giddier about the white and blue box the punk tourist was waving at him. The musician was about to run over to John but was halted by Leon.

"I'll race you for him…" the arrogant rider said as he drove past the musician on his Slicecycle and sped right towards the tourist with a blue Mohawk.

Seeing the deadly vehicle heading straight at him, John turned around to flee. However, the Slicecycle was just too fast and the left chainsaw handlebar ripped right through the mohawked punk's torso, slicing him in two.

"JOHN!" Trent screamed while flabbergasted at the malicious act of the sadistic TIR contestant, "YOU BASTARD!"

"HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Leon manically cackled while driving back towards the musician. He now sped up in Trent's direction just before slamming the breaks with the bloodstained chainsaw handlebar only inches away from the musician.

"What the fuck were you doing? THAT WASN'T A ZOMBIE!" Trent angrily shouted.

"Yeah, no shit, Trent," Leon sneered back, "Twice the points! They're harder to hit 'cause they move around so much, bastards…" he finished while angrily inspecting his chainsaw handlebars.

"You're crazy! This isn't a game!" Trent reminded once again.

The sadistic TIR rider slowly turned back at the musician, "You're right about that… THAT was just PRACTICE! Hehehe…" Leon, once again, circles Trent with his Slicecycle, NOW it's a game! Terror is Reality, baby! For Real! Hahaha! heha! haha!"

Leon's Slicecycle picks up speed as it makes more donuts around Trent.

"LIVE IN FORTUNE CITY! HAHAHAHA!" the TIR psycho contestant continues to cackle, "I've always wanted to take you down, chump,"

Leon then halts and throws a key at the musician.

"But you need some wheels, Trenty!" he informed as he points at a regular motorcycle that was mounted in front of the Arena building for promotional purposes prior to the outbreak.

"I'm not going to play your game…" Trent stood firmly. As vengeful as he was over what Leon did to John, the musician knew nothing good would have came from playing along with the psychopath.

"Maybe Trenty needs some motivation" Leon sneered and drove back to where the severed corpse of John laid. The TIR psychopath then reached out for the white and blue box of Zombrex. Leon then tauntingly shook the container in front of Trent.

"Wait! I need that for Gwen!" the musician protested.

"Then don't keep me waiting…" Leon responded before flooring it up the Platinum Strip, "HAHAAHAHAAH! HAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA!"

Trent took the key the psychopath had given him and ran to the idle motorbike. Now that Gwen's life was practically in the sadistic TIR rider's hand, Trent had no other choice but to go after him. He needed the Zombrex. Hopping on the motorcycle, he used the key to turn it on.

"For Gwen…" he tells himself while cursing over the fact that he may have to once again kill for the goth's sake.

Driving the bike down the Platinum Strip, the musician pursues Leon on his Slicecycle. Not having chainsaws strapped to his bike's handlebars, Trent was at a grave disadvantage. However, he did have Cody's trusty Defiler. The zombie horde was not much of an issue for the biker since the motorcycle mowed through the undead crowd with ease. Even better was the fact that the musician had prior experience with motorcycles since he had once repaired them for a living. This talent allowed Trent to navigate up the strip and after Leon. Eventually he caught up with the psychopath in the park.

"Didn't think you were gonna make it!" Leon taunted.

"Give me the Zombrex!" Trent angrily ordered.

"You don't win contests that way Trenty!" the TIR psychopath taunted, "Come and get it!"

Leon floored it once again took off with the musician closely following him circling the park. The chainsaws that hung out on Leon's Slicecycle chopped through the undead road kill like butter. As Trent starts to gain up on him, the TIR psychopath made a quick turnaround, facing the musician.

"HERE IT COMES, TRENTY!" Leon yelled as he hastily drives his Slicecycle right at Trent.

The modified bike rushed right at the musician and Trent couldn't help but jump off his own ride to narrowly avoid the chainsaw handlebars of Leon's Slicecycle.

"Awww, Looks like Twenty doesn't want his Zombwex!" Leon continued to taunt.

Trent grunted in pain after having to throw himself onto the ground. Before a zombie could become an opportunist, the musician quickly hops back onto his motorcycle for another round. He then drove his bike to catch up to Leon who had driven to the other side of the park. Driving past more and more undead crowds, the musician eventually reached Leon.

"Ready for round two Trenty?" Leon asked as he speeds up towards Trent again.

This time, the musician was ready for him. Trent pulled out the Defiler as the Slicecyclist got closer. Just when he was within reach, Trent swung the axe and hammer hybrid at him. However, Leon ducked in just a knick of time.

"Lookie, here! He's actually got some fight in him after all!" The TIR psychopath stated as he turned around back at Trent, "Now I don't have to toy around with you anymore"

Trent turned his bike back at Leon as well. The two begin their third joust while speeding towards each other. This time, Leon performed a wheelie by raising the front end of his Slicecycle so the chainsaw handlebars was closer to Tren't head. From the current angle, the Defile was useless and all Trent could do was lean the other way to avoid maximum damage. The chainsaw teeth, however, reached and tore into the musician's shoulder.

"GAAAAAAHHH!" the musician screamed by the swift slice of the chainsaw. The impact was strong enough to throw him off of his bike.

"TRIPLE POINTS FOR KILLING TRENT!" The maniacal Leon screamed.

Trent gets up from falling off his ride yet again. But this time, Leon was not as charitable.

"FREEBIES ARE OVER!" Leon screamed as he charges his Slicecycle at grounded musician.

As the chainsaws swung at him again, Trent rolled out of the way in time to elude the sadistic TIR contestant. Trent quickly made a run for it back to his motorcycle before Leon turned around again. Hopping back on, Trent floors it. However, Leon had already made his next charge at him. As Trent drove around the park, Leon was gaining on the musician from behind and fast.

"Gwen was right to dump your pussy ass!" the belittling continued from the arrogant psychopath, "Now you're gonna blow your shot with her again!"

That did it for the musician. He instantly stepped on the breaks and rams the Defiler against the face of a speeding Leon. The blunt impact smashed into the Leon's face and the Slicecycle rider staggered away in pain aboard his ride.

"Ouch, you bitch!" the psychopath cursed.

Regaining his ground, Leon turns his Slicecycle around for the next joust. Applying a firm grip to the Slicecycle, Leon and his ride leapt in the air and lunges right at Trent with chainsaws ready to decapitate.

The musician narrowly ducked in time to avoid the lethal blow. Wasting no time afterwards, he quickly turned his bike around and gave chase. While avoiding ever corpse along the way, Trent gains on Leon and swings the Defiler against the psychopath's back.

"UGH!" Leon grunted in pain.

Quick to counterattack, the TIR rider does a sharp donut and the chainsaw handlebars rip into Trent's thigh.

"Aurgh!" Trent also winced over his wound.

"Time to do away with you for good, Trenty! Hahahahaha" Leon continued to cackle while turning to Trent's direction one last time"

Trent fights through the pain as he follows suit and readies to charge at Leon.

The two bikes drive right at each other while their drivers readied their weapons. Trent prepared to swing his Defiler while Leon raises the chainsaws on his Slicecycle. As the two rides practically collide, The chainsaws rip into Trent's side while the axe and hammer hybrid implants into Leon's ribcage. The forces caused both riders to then crash into a steel fence alongside the park.

Weakened from the blunt trauma and axe choppings, Leon tries to drive away after crashing. Little did the TIR contestant know, that the collision to his Slicecycle caused his gas tank to leak at fast pace. The vehicle started to slow down because of this. Too frustrated to work with it, Leon stumbles off and tries to stagger his way from the scene. However, preventing the psychopath from escaping, Trent parked his ride in front of Leon after recovering from the crash himself.

"Give me the Zombrex," the musician ordered once more.

The defeated psychopath grinned maniacally back at him, "Hehe… Oh, you think it's that easy, Trent? You think you're the man?"

As the gasoline puddle gets bigger, Leon stubbornly and weakly hopped back onto his Slicecycle.

"You'll NEVER beat me! Hahahahaha!"

The exhaust of the bike rumbles as the psychotic TIR rider starts to drive the modified bike again while spraying the leaked gasoline liquid all over the place.

"Yeah, that's right, quadruple points, Trenty… LET'S SEE YOU TOP THIS!"

The crazed rider starts performing tight donuts again.

Not even attacking Trent anymore, Leon continues to cackle, "Hahahahaha! Yeah, you take that!"

Leon's turns were so sharp, the chainsaw handlebars scraped against the concrete ground. The sparks it created mixed with the spilled gasoline, thus igniting a flame that spread onto the Slicecycle, as well as the psychopath himself.

"On top… all the way to the end!" the psychotic Leon boasts, ignoring the fact that he was set aflame.

After doing enough circles, the Slicecycle gave in to the fire, and an ablazed Leon finally stepped off of it.

"But never forget, chump! I'M NUMBER OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!"

Leon cackled one last time before finally succumbing to the flame.

Trent only glared at the crisped psychopath, "Yeah… you're on fire…"

The musician's attention had then diverted back to the blue and white box that had also caught on fire.

"Shit!"

Trent grabbed the Zombrex and quickly put out the flame before it could consume that as well. Before he had a moment to enjoy getting Gwen's saving grace, the musician realizes how much excruciating pain he really was.

"Dammit, I'm not gonna make it to the safehouse at this rate…" Trent stated weakly.

He stumbled back on his bike and drove around the park, looking for a temporary place to rest. Eventually, he came across a large fountain that stood just in front of the Platinum Strip.

"There's no way a zombie could climb up that"

Trent stumbled off his bike and scaled up the fountain. Now safe from the zombie's reach, the musician rested his head backwards and allowed the water to help treat his wound. Time seemed to speed up as the musician relaxed in fountain.

Suddenly, Trent was alerted by a chiming of the park's clock tower. The musician lifted his head back up to see that nightfall had come again. To make matters worse, the undead's eyes had reverted back to their nightly glowing crimson color. Their aggressive nocturnal nature had returned as well as they all looked up hungrily at the musician.

"Not good…"

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 61:59:59**

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* * *

A/N: Though I kind of want to bring out official characters in at a faster rate, you all are free to submit as many survivor OC apps as you want. Though I can't guarantee they'll all get in, let alone if they survive, I will always hear out all requests.  
**


	8. A Sign of Life!

**Time Before Military Arrives: 61:59:58**

From out of the Leon frying pan, and into the more aggressive undead fire, Trent's predicament had just gotten from bad to worse. As the clock turned seven, the nighttime activated the nocturnal instincts of the zombie horde. Trent, after narrowly surviving Leon's assault, got his Zombrex and was in the process of recovering his wounds. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to waste in the park and had to get the Zombrex back to the safehouse. Since the suppresser needed to be applied every twenty-four hours, Gwen will need this dose in twelve.

Trent stood above a large fountain in Fortune City Park. The undead horde had crowded around said fountain, unable to climb up it. All the musician had with him was the Defiler, a hammer and axe hybrid, given to him by Cody. Luckily for Trent, the park entrance to the Royal Flush Plaza was not far from where he is now.

Leaping over the majority of the flesh eating crowd, Trent slammed his weapon down on a group, smashing them into ground beef. Not taking a time to get a breath in, the musician darts past the crimson eyed corpses that give chase after him at a faster pace than before. Zombie after zombie intercepts Trent's path, but he refused to let the undead get the best of him. Swinging the modified weapon, he dispatches each obstacle with blade and blunt might.

Running across the park, the entrance to the plaza was within his sight, as was the zombies that mobbed the glass doors leading to it. Trent inspected his Defiler to see it had been getting a bit beat up from all its uses. Sheathing it, Trent needed to think creatively if he wanted to get past the zombie wall. Looking around, he sees a small wooden bench.

"That could do it," he tells himself with a grin.

Lifting the long wooden seat, he carries and hurls it at the undead crowd. The seat tumbled down on them and they fall over like bowling pins. Being an opportunist afterwards, Trent leapt over the dazed crowd and landed into the Royal Flush Plaza past them and the glass doors.

There was no time for breaks as the musician rushed down the mall. The zombies here were as much a pain as the ones outside. Having no choice otherwise, Trent pulled the Defiler back out and fought back the corpses as he made down the plaza. More and more flesheaters lunge at the musician, forcing him to defend with dear life using his weapon hybrid. Eventually, the beaten Defiler fell apart on him as the duct tape ripped and the axe heads fell off the cracked hammer.

Throwing the remnants at an approaching flesheater, Trent had to find something else that could protect him on the way to the safehouse. He then sees a utility cart being pushed by one of the mindless undead that infested the mall. By simply kicking the corpse out of the way, Trent mans the cart and rolls it forward. All it took to keep back the undead from there was a good ramming with the utility cart. The musician happily picked up speed as he pushed the rolling cart down the mall and eventually reached the doorway to the corridor he had been so familiar with.

****Cody and Gwen****

The geek and the goth were eating the meals made for them by Chef Hatchet.

"How's your leg, Gwen?" Cody asked the goth.

"Fine, your shoulder?"

"Getting better…"

Gwen chuckled, "Ironic how you can bring a live tiger safely here and I couldn't even reason with Sadie…"

The geek gave a subtle smile back at her, "Being the nice guy isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure it may help me reason with others, but once I try with the wrong person, it will get me killed. You did something I would never have been able to do"

The goth rested her hand on Cody's good shoulder, "There's no reason why you should ever have to do what I had to"

****Trent****

Crawling out of the air duct after running through the dark corridor, the musician had at last returned to the safehouse. The first place he intended to visit was the surveillance room. As Trent walked into it, only Stacey was already there, still watching the monitors.

"Trent, nicely done at finding some Zombrex," The leader of CURE praised.

The musician frowned pessimistically, "So now I got to find another for Gwen by the day after tomorrow…"

Stacey brought out the same gloom, "The stress from all this, along with that horrible medicine… It's a lot for a girl to deal with…"

"When this is all over… I'll do whatever I can to get her the doses she needs to live…" Trent announced.

The musician's attention was then diverted to the monitors.

"Hey… what is that?" he asked Stacey.

The redheaded CURE leader looked at one of the screens as well, "I don't know, it looks like something's going on at the entrance to one of the maintenance tunnels," she turned back to Trent, "I can't quite tell for sure, but it looks like someone is moving equipment or something… It looks pretty organized"

"It's a lead. The only one we got. It could be whoever's doing this to us" the musician informed.

"You mean the ones who are framing us for the outbreak?" Stacey asked.

"Exactly. No use for me to stay here any longer, I best be off to check it out," Trent responded before proceeding to leave the room. He then, however halts and hands Stacey the Zombrex, "Hold on to this and give it to Gwen when the time comes for her to take it"

**(A/N: Seriously? Why couldn't this be done in the game?)**

"Okay, but are you sure you're able to go right back out there? I mean, after your fight with that Slicecyclist…"

"I can't miss this opportunity to possibly clear my name" the musician said sternly.

"Alright… Good luck out there, Trent," The CURE leader tells him as he parts.

****Cody****

Grabbing a snack after his meal, the geek has into a bag of jellybeans while still inside the cafeteria room. Enjoying the treat, he fails to notice the aged security officer, Sullivan, enter the room.

"You seem to have no problem climbing into hell, son," Sullivan announced his presence to the geek.

Cody turned and looked back at him skeptically, "What do you mean?"

"Now that Fortune's City's Most Wanted had just left again, I need someone else to run an errand for me"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Since you three kids are bringing in more and more survivors, our food supply is depleting faster than expected," the security officer informed.

"But the military arrives in less than three days, I'm sure we can hold out without starving to death just fine as is," Cody argued.

"That may be, but when folks get hungry, they get restless. When they get restless, they get agitated. And when they get agitated, keeping order gets much more difficult. Not to mention that tiger of yours may not like being starved again" Sullivan elaborated.

"So you want me to find more food for the bunker?"

"Yeah. Just one grocery run should suffice. Figure if you can load a shopping cart full of provisions from the Food Court and bring it back here, we will be good 'til the military rolls in"

"I guess that will be fine" The geek caved in.

"Good," Sullivan responded shortly before leaving.

"Guess I better head off then, too," Cody said to himself as he also left the room towards the air duct.

****Trent****

When the musician neared the entrance back to the Royal Flush Plaza, he realized he was still without a weapon. He sees the utility cart he used when he returned from his fight with Leon. Trent also notices a folded steel chair from across the maintenance room. Putting the wrestling themed weapon into the kart, the musician rolls away into and down the plaza.

****Gwen****

Back in the surveillance room of the safehouse, the goth walked in.

"Stacey, was Trent just here?" Gwen asked.

"You just missed him," the leader of CURE informed, "He found a lead to possibly clear his and CURE's name and left again"

"Well, that's good to hear," the goth smiled optimistically.

The two spend the next few minutes watching the monitors. Gwen spots Cody crawling out of the air duct on one of the screens.

"Where's Cody going?" the goth asked with concern.

As if on cue, Sullivan stepped in, "He's just making a food run for the safe house. He'll be fine"

Gwen nervously watched him run down the corridor to the Royal Flush Plaza. Stacey, however, had her attention attracted to another monitor screen.

"Is that… Brandon?" the CURE leader asked herself.

"Who?" the goth inquired.

"A fellow CURE activist who came here to protest Terror is Reality with the rest of our members. I hope he's okay. I'd call and ask Trent to go get him on the way, but the detour is too big for him to blow his one opportunity to prove his innocence," Stacey lamented.

"Well, my leg is better now, so maybe I can run over to him. Where is he?" the goth volunteered and asks.

"He seems to be walking into the bathroom stalls of the Americana Casino" the CURE leader informed.

"…I have been there before…" Gwen said, recalling her past transactions with Katie and Sadie.

"Okay, be careful though" Stacey said as Gwen prepared to leave.

"I will," the goth said right before parting.

****Cody****

The geek made off down the dark corridor. Taking a detour of his own, the geek runs back into the maintenance room to tinker with some more junk he found in the safehouse. In no time at all, he stepped back out to continue with his errand. Just as he was ready to run out to the mall, he hears a voice from behind him.

"Cody, wait!"

Cody turned back to hear Gwen shouting after climbing out of the air duct on the other side. Allowing the goth to run over him, "Gwen?"

After the goth finally managed to catch up to him, "Cody, are you sure you want to go back out there? I mean, I just have to go the other way for a quick thing and can get the food for you"

The geek grinned, "I can hold my own. You'd be surprised by how resourceful I can be"

Keeping his gap-toothed grin, he pulled out his new combined weapon, a push broom with a machete duct taped to the stick end in a glaive-like form.

"Just be careful, okay Cody?" the goth pled.

"Got too much to do before I let myself become zombie chow" Cody chuckled back.

After stepping into the Royal Flush Plaza, the two parted and ran separate directions. Cody went east towards the path to the Food Court and Gwen headed west back to the Americana Casino.

****Trent****

Meanwhile, the musician was already halfway down the eastern most part of the Royal Flush Plaza. His route, however, shifted when he saw a door to the side. Looking at his brochure, he flipped to the bottommost floor side and concluded the door would take him there. Opening said door, Trent ran in and saw stairs that would take him down to where he needed to go.

****Cody****

The geek continued to run east down the Royal Flush Plaza. Just missing the musician, he ran past the door that lead to the underground tunnels and stays the original route. As usual, the geek managed to dodge each intercepting zombie with his small body and quick movements. Eventually, the geek made it to the end of the mall. Instead of going out to the park, Cody made a left turn to the Slot Ranch Casino, the place between the Food Court and where he is now.

****Gwen****

Since the Americana Casino was just next to the corridor that held the air duct, Gwen had the shortest route. Luckily for the goth, no undead crowded the door she used to enter the rock themed casino. Unfortunately afterwards, the red eyed corpses were ready to snack on her inside said casino. Gwen needed to think of something fast, because without a weapon on her, she won't be able to fend the zombies off.

****Cody****

Entering the Texas themed casino on the other side, Cody pulled out his self-made polearm. The undead that infested this casino were as much a hassle as the other. The geek had to make his way past this place to get to the food court. With his trusty machete and broom hybrid, Cody takes off down the slot machine aisles while slashing down undead on the way.

****Gwen****

Eluding the undead was much harder for the goth. Trying to find a useful weapon was difficult for Gwen as she ran past the blackjack tables. Seeing a wall of zombies blocking her path, she had to find another route. The goth's options get fewer and fewer as the crimson eyed undead all close in on her. Things just get bleaker as she gets pushed back to the corner that was Bennie Jack's BBQ Restaurant. The familiar place was actually a saving grace for her. Recalling her fight with Sadie was brought to mind for Gwen as she sees the weapon the BFF had previously wielded.

"The shotgun!" Gwen happily stated.

When Sadie had fallen from the rails on the second floor of the BBQ Shack, the gun was dropped down as well and now available for the goth to use. The goth wouldn't even take another second to look around for what else could be the aftermath of her fight with the BFF.

Now that Gwen had the firearm, she shot her way a path through the undead mob and continues running across the Americana Casino.

****Cody****

Fighting his way through the Slot Ranch Casino, Cody eventually makes it out of Fortune City's smallest of main casinos. All that stood between the geek and the food court now was one long hallway. Even better for Cody, was the moving walkways that would make his trek all the more easier. Running down the conveyer belts, Cody finally reached his destination.

"Wow, this place has a lot of restaurants, I wonder which one to go to first" Cody said to himself.

The first place he got a good look at was the Wild West Grill House. The geek recalled Snowflake's preference for steaks and the geek wouldn't pass up on the juicy meat either. Cody didn't even bother with the approaching zombies as he quickly ran for the Grill House. Just before he could successfully walk in, a strange smell attracted his nostrils.

"Is someone cooking something?"

Cody turned to the restaurant next to the Grill House which was the Cucina Donnacci, a fancy Italian diner.

"Could be another survivor…"

****Gwen****

After blasting her way through each obstacle, Gwen paused to inspect how many slugs she had left in her shotgun. Much to her dismay, she had only three shots left.

"I better make the most of each one…" she said to herself.

Luckily for her, only a few straggling zombies were in her path as she easily dodges each one. Eventually, she had at last reached the bathroom stalls where the CURE member was last seen.

Gwen walked into the men's bathroom stall of the Americana Casino. The atmosphere here completely changed for the goth. Despite the bathroom lights being on, their shine was dim and flickering which gave the place a damp green color. The next things Gwen sees are blood stains that were visible all over the floors, stalls, and walls. As she paced down to the other side of the stalls, she sees a man softly mumbling to himself.

"…the movement is growing… soon we'll all be part of the change…"

Gwen walks towards him to get a better look at the man, "Hey sir, are you okay?"

The man slowly turned back at the goth. He was a rather slim person with shaggy dreadlocks and facial hair and wore a green sweater. His most notable trait was the blood soaked hands and blood stained face, as well as his suspicious shaking.

"Are you Brandon, the CURE protester?" Gwen inquired.

"Yes… I am a loyal follower to CURE… and Trent Smith…" Brandon informed.

"Trent?"

"Yes… He showed me the way… Now my life has meaning again…" The CURE activist revealed.

Gwen gets nervous after watching his limbs shake even more franticly while he elaborates.

"At first, I didn't I understand what him and CURE were up to…"

"What are you talking about?" the goth questioned again.

Brandon stared into his shaking, blood soaked hands, "Letting the zombies free…"

"CURE didn't have anything to do with that!" Gwen angrily informed, "And neither did Trent!"

The CURE activist ignored her, "First it was horrible! The zombies… the zombies we've been trying to save… killing people… eating people…" Brandon's eyes turned back at Gwen, "But then I saw how brilliant the plan is… it's the best way to end the oppression! It's so RADICAL! It's BEAUTIFUL man…"

Gwen is taken back as Brandon's ice-cold, blood-soaked hands grabs her by the shoulders. Looking past the snapped activist, the goth looked around a bathroom stall to see another woman tied up. She had straight, yet dirty blonde hair. She also wore glasses and a blue sweater.

The restrained and terrified woman looked back at the goth, "Please… help me…"

Brandon released his hold on the goth and walked backwards past her and the prisoner. He then turned to another bathroom stall next to said captive.

"…So I'm helping now. I'm a soldier of the cause, man…" The CURE protester's voice lowered to a very loud and angry whisper.

Brandon opened the bathroom stall to reveal a previously captured zombie. The walking corpse looked at the captive girl and hungrily approaches her.

"NO!" Gwen screamed while shoving the undead man back into the stall before it could lunge at the hostage. She quickly closed the stall afterwards. She then turned back at Brandon, "This is no way to help anyone!"

Brandon glared back at the goth, "You of all people should understand. You're an activist yourself aren't you? But then again… it wouldn't be the first time you abandoned his side… Gwen…"

The goth looked astonished by the fact he knew who she was but stood her ground, "Trent and I may have parted relationshipwise, but we are still close! And I know he would never condone this!"

"What gives you the right to criticize the genius of the world's salvation? No one will stop the CHANGE! Especially not the one who broke the savior behind it all's heart!"

The psychotic activist bent down to pick up a long, bloody and razor-sharp glass shard and slowly approaches Gwen with it

"I am finishing what Trent started! I am a fighter for his cause! AND I AM TAKING THIS THING… ALL THE WAY!"

****Cody****

Cody wandered into the Italian diner that was Cucina Donnacci. The lack of zombies and the eerie Italian music that played inside the restaurant made the geek gulp nervously, recalling the last time he wandered in an open area clear of the undead. He walked down one of the rows of dining tables and towards the back kitchen. It was there Cody sees a man in a chef's outfit chopping something up on a cutting board. As the geek got closer, the cook puts his knife down and tastily licked his fingers clean. He had unkempt grey hair and mustache and was rather heavyset. Once his apron was in Cody's line of sight, it revealed to be stained with what appeared to be blood. The cook then saw the geek and his expression changed to anger.

"Didn't you see the sign? This kitchen is closed! Get out!" He angrily tells the geek, "I don't have time to serve anyone else right now. My reviewer is here!"

"What are you talking about?" Cody questioned since the chef seemed oblivious to the zombie outbreak.

"I SAID LEAVE!" The chef screamed out loud.

Cody nervously backed away, but then noticed someone sitting at one of the dining tables that the geek hadn't previously passed by. Leaving the chef to his work, the geek walked over to the second figure to identify him. It revealed to be yet another familiar face.

"Owen?"

Cody happily ran to the chubby teen's side, but was then stricken with dread to see what happened to the tied up Canadian. Owen's eyes were filled with despair as he sat restrained to the dining chair. Even more gruesome was the amount of vomited bile that completely covered his face, torso, and the dining table itself.

"Owen… what happened to you?" Cody asked with remaining dread.

"He… he… made me eat something…" Owen, who was practically paralyzed with revulsion revealed, "…Something… horrible…"

The chubby teen's eyes start to water as he expressed his traumatic anguish.

"Owen…" the geek apprehensively inquires, "What did he make you eat?"

Breaking the conversation, the chef approaches the two with a plate of suspicious meat.

"Who's ready for the second course?" the chef happily asked as he puts the saucer on the puke covered table, "This is my ultimate dish! Daring! Original! Exotic! And fresh… oh yes… VERY fresh!"

Cody gagged after seeing the disgusting meal. That was certainly no animal meat he'd ever seen.

The chef continues with sinister enthusiasm, "You and your readers will find it easily worthy of four stars!"

The geek turned back to the kitchen to see that the back food storage room was open. Gazing further into it, Cody sees the visceral remnants of an unfortunately chopped up person.

"YOU SICK BASTARD!" the geek screamed with furiously burning eyes at the chef, "How could FUCKING feed this to him?"

The chef angrily turned back at the geek, "You criticize my cooking? In front of the reviewer I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR?"

"LOOK WHAT YOUR SHITTY FOOD DID TO OWEN!" Cody responded back with disgust and anger while pointing at Owen who was now emotionless and staring into the ceiling. The cook's scowl got even more menacing and furious than ever over what the geek said.

"HOW DARE YOU! I AM ANTOINE! I AM THE KING OF CUISINE!"

Antoine's expression then changed to a calmness as he casually walked back to the kitchen. Cody nervously watches him rummage through some of his cooking supplies.

"No matter, this can still be a once in a lifetime meal," he calmly, yet maniacally mumbled as he pulled then out a cleaver, "So sit… relax…"

Cody nervously stepped back from the butcher knife wielding cannibalistic chef.

"ANTOINE will make you… DINNER! Hehehe… Hahahaha… HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

****Trent****

After finally reaching the underground access, Trent finds himself in a storage room below the Royal Flush Plaza. As soon as he walked in, he heard noises going on just around the corner. Trent subtly hid behind steel shelving to see what was going on. What the musician saw were a group of armed workers scouting the underground tunnels. They were dressed in orange jumpsuits with bulletproof vests, hardhats and gas masks.

"Uh huh, yes sir!" one of the hired lackeys complied on his own transceiver just as Trent tuned in.

Another armed person approached the one who just hung up his communicator, "They're almost here, move it!"

Suddenly, a train pulls by the armed lackeys. From it stepped a hauntingly familiar person. At first, Trent couldn't identify the man. But as the man's skin revealed to be dark in a semi formal vest and tie outfit. While the individual was casually putting on his sunglasses, Trent finally was able to figure it out.

"Tyrone King?" the musician whispered to himself, astonished that the Terror is Reality executive producer and host would be down here, hanging with armed mercenaries. Trent couldn't make out what TK was saying to the mercs, but knew he was giving out orders. The musician wanted to get closer to listen in. But as he did, he knocked over steel poles that had leaned on the shelf he was hiding behind. The sound of the falling rods was all it took for him to blow his cover.

Tyrone King looked at Trent and slowly approached his direction. The TIR host then gave a casual grin, "Trent! You made it out! After that pathetic performance you gave last night, I thought for sure they'd find you lying dead with a load in your shorts"

Tyrone then backed away as the mercenaries pass him with their guns ready.

"Show the Total Drama star how a game is really played, boys!" TK said with a cruel grin while pulling down a steel gate from above to separate him from Trent and the mercenaries who are targeting him.

The unarmed musician looked nervously as the hired lackeys approach and aims their assault rifles at him.

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 58:59:59**

**

* * *

A/N: In the actual scene of Dead Rising 2 where the protagonist and Stacey chatted before seeing the mercenaries in the surveillance room, it gave the first implication that the CURE leader was the love interest in the story. I thought about some cross-over pairings in this story, but I'm sure my readers are much more eager for their favorite TDI guys to hook up with their favorite TDI girls. Still, feel free to let your minds wander on the crack filled thoughts of BrandonxGwen, ChrisxRebecca, CarlxCourtney (Hey, they're both anal perfectionists), CrystalxCodyxAmber, (Oh I'm terrible XD).)**


	9. Ticket to Ride!

**A/N: Wow what a tough chapter to do. Anyways the song here is "The Wicked End" by Avenged Sevenfold. I hope adding the songfic aspect to these fights add enjoyment to the read.**

**

* * *

Time Before Military Arrives: 58:59:58**

Things begin to get so much worse for the three survivors. Gwen finds herself in a bathroom stall with a snapped CURE protester who decided to turn others into zombies. Cody confronted a cannibalistic chef who takes exception to critics after feeding his cooking to Owen. And Trent, who had been trying to get to the bottom of his framing, now is against a group of armed mercenaries courtesy of Tyrone King, the executive producer and host of Terror is Reality.

****Gwen****

The crazed CURE protester, Brandon, slowly approached the goth carrying his long, sharp, broken, glass shard. Gwen jumped back and aimed her shotgun back at him.

"Stay back!" she threatened.

With just three shells left in the gun, Gwen couldn't afford to take risks with this guy. The deranged activist, however, showed no fear to her firearm.

"I said stay back!" Gwen screamed as Brandon continued to shakily stumble towards her.

The goth chose not to give a second thought before pulling the trigger. At that instant, Brandon rolled to the side and quickly dodged the slug. The CURE activist psychopath then showed his true agility as he now dashes at the goth. Gwen tried to jump back again, but the quick, dreadlocked, protester lunges and swings his glass shard at her.

"AAAUGH!" Gwen fell and screamed in pain as the cold glass dagger ripped into her arm.

"Hahahaha!" Brandon maniacally laughed after landing his first strike.

**Man's becoming more corrupt now, godless, wicked, and cruel  
The soulless man stood silenced, Mary's words rang so true  
Chastisement worse than the flood, spread the word, it's all through  
Don't kill the messenger girl  
As if we haven't swam enough in this life of misery**

****Cody****

In the Cucina Donnacci restaurant in the Food Court, Cody finds himself against a crazed chef named Antoine who plans to make the geek into his next meal for the reviewer. Said reviewer was Owen, who had been strapped to a dining booth after being force-fed the cooked remnants of another slain person. Armed only with his pole arm weapon combination, Cody was against a cannibalistic psychopath who had an entire kitchen at his disposal with the first being a butcher knife.

"ORDER UP!"

Before the geek could do anything, Chef Antoine hurls his cleaver at him. Cody quickly dodged for cover but the blade slightly cut into his backside. Giving a slight grunt of pain, the geek gets back up to continue this. The cannibalistic chef gathers more cooking ware and runs at the geek. Cody pulled out his machete and broom hybrid and swings the glaive at the Antoine.

"Argh!" the cannibalistic psychopath grunted in pain after the blade slashes into him.

Cody, unforgiving over what Antoine made Owen eat, continues to swing his polearm against the chef psychopath. Suddenly, the crazed chef maintains a grip on the geek's weapon. From out of nowhere, Antoine pulled out a frying pan and smacked the geek hard in the face. The impact sent the geek flying across the restaurant and separated from his weapon.

Owen paid no attention to the tussle as he could only stare into space while still comprehending the visceral act of consuming meat from the wrong mammal.

Cody weakly got up from the blow to the head as Antoine pulled out another cleaver.

"I'll tenderize you!"

**Voice your prophecy, shed us some light  
Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive  
Swallowed lies and swam in our own tears  
A stab in the dark but it wounded our will  
We won't be here tomorrow, hold on to me for one last time  
**

****Gwen****

Gwen desperately kicked the lunatic back and scampered from his blade's reach. She quickly readied her gun again but Brandon quickly took off from her.

"You can't stop me now!" he taunted as he leapt into one of the bathroom stalls of the restroom.

Gwen didn't know for sure if the shotgun could blast through the stall doors. But with the uncertainty of it doing so, let alone with hitting Brandon himself, as well as the fact that she only had two slugs left, the risk just wasn't worth it. Her eyes then widened to see the protester skidding from stall to stall in a flash around the room. She backed into a corner, nervously readying her gun while not knowing where he was going to come out from.

"YOU BETRAYED THE CAUSE, GWEN!" Brandon screamed as he jumped out another stall and dashes at Gwen for another attack.

Time seemed to stop for the goth as she realized how much shaking her weapon had been doing in her loose grip. The goth was more terrified than ever as the psychopath neared closer and closer towards her. Before she snapped out of her trance, Brandon tackled her to the ground. She got more frantic as the crazed activist raised his weapon above her with sadistic eyes. He then lustfully licks the bleeding glass blade before readying for another stab.

"No more divisions between us!" he screamed at her before swinging his glass shard again.

Before the razor sharp weapon hit her, Gwen parried it with her shotgun. Though the glass was thick enough to not shatter, it did buy her the time she needed to improvise with and the goth smacked Brandon away with the blunt end of her firearm. Just before Gwen could get up and use the shotgun for its true purpose, Brandon makes off into another stall.

"I'LL MAKE YOU A ZOMBIE SOON!" the activist screamed again as he leapt from stall to stall.

**We've grown into the numbers six hundred sixty six  
War breaks, a sign of the end, eternally expelled  
Look to the sky for knowledge, the stars align tonight  
Eclipse and heaven shall fall  
Now I know I've seen it all in my life of misery  
**

****Cody****

The geek avoids another butcher knife hurled at him by the psychopathic chef. Before Cody gets a second to breathe afterwards, Antoine charges at him again with his frying pan. Now without a weapon, the geek flees from the crazed cook back into the back kitchen.

"Oh boy, do I like to play with my own food…" Antoine muttered as he gave chase.

Cody eventually makes it back to his weapon and wielded his machete and push broom hybrid against the crazed chef. Plunging his machete blade at the chef once more, he gets another stab into the psychopath. Antoine gave another grunt in pain before countering again with his frying pan. This time, however, the geek rolled out of the way before the metal pan could strike him again.

"Adjust your seasoning!" Antoine grabbed a stack of plates from the shelf and hurls them individually at the geek.

Cody tries to avoid these projectiles as well. Dodging the barrage of saucers to the best of his ability, the geek is eventually struck by one and the plate shatters upon impact to his head. Cody becomes more and more dazed after each blow to his head. Siezing the opportunity, Antoine rushes back to the kitchen counter and begins to eat into one of the many meals he had set up in the Italian restaurant.

Cody tries to regain his sense of balance while the chef consumed his food. Eventually, Antoine was ready to continue the fight and seemed to be completely ignoring his machete wounds. Now rejuvenated, the chef psychopath resumed his pursuit after the geek.

"What's it gonna take to keep this guy down…" the geek muttered in frustration.

**Voice your prophecy, shed us some light  
Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive  
Swallowed lies and swam in our own tears  
A stab in the dark but it wounded our will**

****Gwen****

The goth thought about just fleeing the scene but remembered the blonde hostage that Brandon intended to zombify. How could she just abandon someone even if it would ensure her own survival? Gwen admitted, she impulsively committed selfish acts but this was beyond what her conscience could allow. Breaking her struggled inner conflicts, Brandon hopped back out of a stall for another round.

"I'll stop the exploitation!" He screamed as he rushed towards Gwen once more.

This time, as the crazed activist charges at her, the goth was ready for him and shot her second slug.

"UUUUGH!" Brandon screamed as the projectile blasted into left shoulder area.

This moment of agony was what really angered the psychopath.

"AAUUGH!" He screamed maniacally as he picked up speed towards the goth.

Gwen's eyes widen as she sees how little the wound slowed him down. As Brandon swung his long glass shard at Gwen again, she rolled out of the way to elude his attacks.

"We'll all be free!" He yelled as he gave chase.

Gwen continued to run from the crazed activist but he was faster and easily outran the gothic teen. He slashed across her backside and she fell to the ground in more anguish.

"Please… please stop this…" Gwen pleaded in her suffering.

"It's too late to go back now!" Brandon responded apathetically as he licked the glass blade again.

**Dust the apple off, savor each bite  
And deep inside you know Adam was right**

****Cody****

The sadistic Antoine charged at the geek while readying his frying pan again. Cody stood his ground while readying his own self-made glaive against the psychopath.

"My compliments!" Antoine stated continued his puns while running towards the geek.

As Cody prepared to counter a melee attack, the cannibalistic chef instead hurled his frying pan at the geek. Not ready for the turn of events, the geek gets struck by the projectile and gets thrown back to the kitchen floor. Upon more blunt trauma to the head, Cody slowly stumbled back to his feet. Antoine sadistically pulls out another cleaver. Hurling the butcher knife at the geek, Cody practically throws his whole body to the side to avoid the oncoming blade.

The geek didn't have much downtime afterwards either, because chef pulled out a second frying pan from the shelf and ran at the geek. Slamming the pan downwards, he misses Cody as he rolls out of way in just the nick of time.

"Hold still you!" Antoine yelled as he goes for another swing.

Still on the ground, Cody parried the next blow with his polearm. Sitting up and swinging the hybrid, Cody cut into the psychopath's legs before scurrying away, yet again.

Antoine grinned and pulled out yet another butcher knife and hurls it at the geek. This time, the knife plunges deep into Cody's back shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAUUUGH!" the geek screamed in misery as he falls back to the floor, writhing in newly found pain.

**Lust and power, indulgence, no fear  
Left with his sins, how does this end?**

****Gwen****

Seizing the moment of his sadism, Gwen did the best move she could in her position, by planting her foot into the activist's crotch.

"AAARGH! You cheap bitch!" he cursed as he is taken back by the cheap shot.

Gwen took her shotgun and stepped back once more. Before she could get the aim she needed in time, Brandon quickly recovered and lunges at her. Grabbing her by the neck, he shoves her against a stall door. He then starts to squeeze her throat with his ice cold hand and readies his shard with the other hand. In desperation, Gwen used one arm of hers to keep the glass weapon from slicing into her, and the other to try and pry Brandon's numbed grip away from her throat. But as the constricted choke hold kept its grip on her neck, time was running out for the goth.

"You're not even worthy of becoming a part of our cause…" the psychopath muttered as he proceeded to choke Gwen with all his strength.

Desperation and fear had reached their peak as Gwen was between a rock and a hard place. The moment her right hand lets go of the shard wielding arm of Brandon's, her fate is sealed. While at the same time, with only her left hand trying to pry his stranglehold on her with his own other arm, her chances of survival are depleting anyways. As Gwen feels more and more lightheaded, a collection of final thoughts came to mind.

****Cody****

Pulling the blade out of him, Cody rolled over on his back in his suffering before the psychotic Chef stood above him with a wicked grin. The geek recoils in terror as Antoine pulls another weapon of his out of his apron. It had revealed to be none other than an apple. Cody could only guess what the psychopath had in store with that.

"The meal's almost done!"

Reaffirming his fears, Antoine shoves the apple into the geek's mouth and proceeds to jam it deep into Cody's mouth. The geek is helpless as he chokes from the fruit that is being shoved down his throat while at the same time, being weighed down from escape by the heavy set chef. As Cody's mind seemed to be fading for good this time, all that came through his head are a few last thoughts.

****Gwen****

"_What am I gonna do? If I die, what will happen to everyone else? How would Duncan react when he finds out? I can't just let him down when I vowed to find him! What about Trent? All his efforts would have been in vain in finding me medication! And Cody, he would just blame himself for what happens to me. It can't end like this! For all the people I care about! I can't die!"_

****Cody****

"_Story of my life… just when everyone needed me to prevail the most, I let them down. I failed to save Beth, I failed to reason with Ted, and now I am letting my best friend and the girl of dreams down. I'm a failure… Gwen, Trent, Beth, Sierra, Noah, Harold, Justin, Tyler, Owen, Heather… I'm sorry…"_

**As the prophets shed the light on what's to come the crowds did gather  
Your time is precious, they explained, no time to worry, messiah's coming  
Don't go to sleep tonight, darling, hold me in your arms  
These will be our final days and I can't let go**

****Gwen****

"It's over…" Brandon muttered as the goth grew weaker and weaker within his grip. Gwen started to grow limb as her right arm lets go of the CURE activist's glass shard wielding one. Brandon smiled victoriously as he raises his shard to finish the job.

Out of nowhere, the blond hostage, while still tied up, rams the psychopath back with the entire weight of her body, knocking him back.

"You'll pay for that!" Brandon yelled at the constrained captive.

Swinging his glass weapon, he slashed the hostage across the torso, sending her to the ground in restricted agony.

"I have no use for those who defy our cause!" Brandon muttered as he raises his shard for a final stab on the hostage.

****Cody****

"AAUURGH!"

Cody snaps out of his trance to see the chef being thrown off the geek. Cody looked up behind him to see none other than the one psycho he was actually happy to see.

"GET… OFF… CODYKINS!" none other than the geek's personal stalker stood over Cody and before Antoine.

"Sierra!" Cody happily said after coughing out chunks of apple.

"Don't worry, Cody! Leave him to me!" the violet haired stalker stated after pulling out her own weapon against the cannibalistic chef, an aluminum bat.

"What's this? I didn't order seconds!" The psychopath informed.

Using the blunt weapon, the rabid fangirl lunges at Antoine, seeking retribution for him trying to kill her lover.

**Walls are falling, churches burning, women ravaged, children crying  
Flesh is tearing, some still fighting  
In this world of misery**

****Gwen****

"Hey Brandon"

The psychopath turned to behind him to see Gwen aiming her shotgun right at him.

"Take this all the way…" the goth said before firing her third and final slug into Brandon's chest.

Upon impact, the CURE activist is thrown across the restroom with a wide open torso. He then laid there motionless, giving Gwen the victory. The goth then weakly staggered up to the wounded hostage and untied her.

"You okay?" Gwen asked while inspecting the torso wound.

"Yes'm…But I… I… umm… I think I need medical help…" the blonde woman with dirty hair, sweater, and glass weakly responded.

"Don't worry, I'll take you to someplace safe with nurses in no time" the goth assured, "What's your name?"

"It's… umm… Karry" She shyly responded.

"Don't worry, Karry, I'll get you out of here"

The woman smiled back at Gwen, but then her expression quickly diverted, "BEHIND YOU!"

Gwen quickly turned back to see Brandon getting up.

"No fucking way…" the goth could only say as her assailant arose from his gunshot wound.

**Voice your prophecy, shed us some light  
Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive  
Swallowed lies and swam in our own tears  
A stab in the dark but it wounded our will**

****Cody****

Cody weakly crawled over to one of the kitchen ovens. Turning it on at full blast, the geek hatched a plan. Slowly he raised himself up using the oven for leverage. He then grabbed a nearby frying pan.

Meanwhile, Sierra continued to fight against Antoine. She gets one strike in, but the chef knocks her back with his own frying pan.

"You shake, and I BAKE!" Antoine said as he pulled out another apple to suffocate Sierra with.

Time was running for Cody as the psychopath wedges the fruit down Sierra's throat. Once the oven was up and running at the maximum temperature, Cody holds up the frying pan over it. In no time at all, the pan glowed bright orange.

The stalker begins to feel light headed as she is choking on the apple. Wasting no more time, Cody presses the heated frying pan against Antoine's face.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The psychotic chef screamed in pain as the searing pan scorched his face.

Pulling back the weapon only to swing it harder against Antoine, the chef is thrown back across the kitchen himself. Cody was now too furious to think twice before picking up his machete push broom hybrid. Hurling it at the chef like a spear, the machete blade is implanted into Antoine's backside.

**Dust the apple off, savor each bite  
And deep inside you know Adam was right  
lust and power, indulgence, no fear  
Left with his sins, how does this end?**

****Gwen****

Gwen was without ammo as Brandon weakly staggered, as well, past each bathroom stall towards them. Tripping on his feet, he fell into the one on the end that held the zombie that was previously used to infect the Karry with. As the psychopath shared the stall with the undead, the corpse bit into the activist's head. Brandon then threw himself back out. The CURE activist then nervously inspected his drawn blood that came from his scalp. Stumbling away, the psychotic protester was stricken with a feeling of dread.

"No…" he silently mumbled to himself.

Turning others into the undead had failed to faze him. But now that his own fate would be sealed, his cause to free this oppressed world would be lost. No longer could he finish what he had started because in no time, he would become a mindless corpse. For him, this was not the just way to go. Raising his glass shard, he sliced open his own throat. Falling to his knees and then to the floor, Brandon fell lifeless for good this time.

****Cody****

Falling forward in pain from the harpooned weapon, the psychopath himself tries to get back up using the oven for leverage. However, he was too weak to keep his grip and his arm slips into the appliance right next to the oven… a fryer. As his arm his thrown into the searing liquid, his head plunges in from said force as well.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!" He continually screamed as he is deep-fried alive until finally succumbing to the burning liquid.

Cody and Sierra turn silent after looking at the motionless crisp corps before them with all that could be heard was the Italian tune that so hauntingly played within the restaurant.

**We won't be here tomorrow, hold on to me for one last time**

****Gwen****

"Now it's over…" Gwen confirmed, "Come on, there's a safehouse not too far away"

"Okay…" Karry responded before timidly asking, "Umm… did he say you were Gwen from Total Drama?"

"Yeah, that's me" the goth responded, trying to be as humble as possible.

"…Is… is Cody here too?"

Gwen chuckled, "Yeah, he's here"

The blond survivor nervously blushed. Gwen smiled to see her geeky friend had another fan following him.

"Come on, he may be in safehouse already, let's go"

"Yes'm" Karry nervously complied.

****Cody****

Cody sighed in relief now that it was all over. Before he could regain his breath any further, he is grabbed by his stalked in a tight hug.

"Oh Codykins! You are alright! I knew I'd find you sooner or later!"

"T..too tight… reopening wounds…" Cody gasped.

"Oops… hehe sorry"

Despite her titan grip, the geek was glad to see that Sierra was okay. Still, on a more serious note, the geek walked up to Owen, who still sat motionless over his ordeal.

"Come on, Owen. We have to get going" the geek tried to usher.

"…" the chubby teen continued to stare blankly into nothingness.

"What are we gonna do?" the fangirl asked her geeky crush.

"Well we can't leave him here," Cody reminded, "Listen, I came here to fill up shopping cart full of provisions to last us the next few days before the military arrives. We'll just need another cart to carry Owen back to the safehouse as well"

"There's a safehouse?" Sierra asked.

"Yeah, now there's no time to waste. We need to load up from the stores before the zombies give us anymore trouble"

"Can do!" the stalker giddily complied, still ecstatic to finally find her stalkee.

The two make their way to the shopping cart aisle and pull two out. Knocking back the intercepting undead, they push the carts back to the Italian restaurant. The pair then life the heavy, traumatized Owen onto one.

"You sure the carts will be enough to keep the zombies back?" Sierra questioned.

Cody looked around the kitchen they battled Antoine in, he then looked across the food court to see another maintenance room.

"I've got an idea, grab some of those butcher knives"

The geek leads Sierra and a carried Owen into the maintenance room with the kitchenware. Once inside, the geek grabbed a roll of duct tape from the work bench and begun his patented improvised work. Sierra was astonished to see his unique ingenuity do its work. In no time, Cody finished.

"I give you, the Weapon Cart! Okay, naming things cleverly are kinda hit and miss but you get the idea" Cody stated with his gap toothed grin.

What he had made was a shopping cart with rows of cleavers and butcher knives jutting out of it. With the blades pointing outwards, the front cart would plow its way through the zombie crowd.

**(A/N: Shame you couldn't make this weapon of Steven's from Dead Rising 1 in Dead Rising 2)**

The group spent the next hour plowing through the undead from restaurant to restaurant. They got steaks from the Wild West Grill House. Next they stopped at Cheesecake Mania for some baked goods. Then they then went to Lombardi's candy store for some… well… candy, much to Cody's delight. Their last stop was at Hungry Joe's Pizzeria. After stocking up on pizza, the Weapon Cart was full of rations. The geek then covered the food with a mat to avoid blood splatter.

"Next stop, the safehouse!" Cody proudly announced as he pushed the Weapon Cart through the undead horde with Sierra pushing Owen's cart closely behind him.

****Trent****

With a group of four armed mercenaries, Trent, meanwhile, did not have very many options available.

"FIRE!" one of the mercs ordered as the four all shoot their assault rifles at the musician.

The first thing that came to Trent's mind was taking cover from their fire. Jumping behind the steel shelves once again, the musician needed to figure out how to get past them to the man in question, Tyrone King. All that was within Trent's reach was his steel chair. The weapon was strong, but definitely not bullet proof, especially when it came to assault rifle bullets.

Time was running out, as one of the mercenaries was instructed to follow Trent around the shelves. Biding his time, Trent anxiously awaited the approaching armed lackey. Just as the thug in his orange jumpsuit turned the corner, Trent smacked him hard across the head with the steel chair. The impact knocks the thug out cold and drops his weapon.

"What are you waiting for? Take him down!" Tyrone King ordered the mercenaries.

The remaining lackeys awaited the musician to make the first move this time. The steel chair was useless now since he was now unable to surprise the mercenaries this time. So the musician commandeered the assault rifle the downed merc had recently dropped. The playing field had now been leveled as Trent was now armed and loaded. Peaking out of the steel shelve wall, the musician fired back at the remaining three thugs.

TK was angrily watching the battle from the other side of the steel gate that separated him from Trent.

The remaining three mercenaries also take cover and begin firing back the Trent with their own assault rifles. Them and the musician took turns ducking and shooting before Trent wanted to try a different tactic. Staying behind the steel shelves, he secretly climbs up one for a surprise attack.

"Do you see him?" One merc asked the other.

"No"

"Surprise!" Trent hollered before firing his rounds at the three. In no time at all, the three awestruck thugs get taken down like fish in a barrel. After dispatching the mercenaries, Trent turned to TK on the other side of the gate.

"Leave it!" TK ordered the hired lackeys on his side of the gate, "We got enough to do the job!"

Tyrone and his remaining mercenaries hopped aboard the train.

"Let's go!"

"DAMMIT TK!" Trent yelled as he tried to break through the steel gate after his one and only lead to clearing his name from the Fortune City outbreak framing.

TK gave the musician a salutary farewell as the train began driving off.

As hope went away down the railroad tracks, Trent heard a noise from behind him. One of the mercenaries wanted to finish the job as he rode on a motorcycle towards the musician. As the bike pursued Trent around the shelves, the musician grabbed a steel pole and smacked the rider with it off his bike. The motorcycle continued to drive down the storage room and smashes through the gate.

"Thanks for the ride…" Trent taunted the downed merc as he stepped through the new hole in the steel gate and hopped aboard the bike. The train was not too far ahead as the musician gave chase. As Trent drove down the Underground Tunnels after the runaway train, he avoids crashing into too many hordes of zombies who seem to be mobbing this level even more so than the one up above. To make matters worse, more mercenaries try shooting him from the back cart of the train. One of them resorted to throwing junk like hunks of wood and steel scrap. Avoiding every type of projectile, Trent drives past the back cart and continues to avoid the shooters.

"How am I going to get up there?" the musician asked himself while looking up at the train carts.

Answering his prayers, a ramp came up as they drove along. The incline was meant to take people up to the main floor, but Trent had another use for it. Driving up the slope, he was now at a higher elevation than the train. All he needed to do now was jump. Taking the leap of faith off the ramp, Trent throws himself off the bike and latched on the end cart of the train. He pulls himself over the railings and stood before two armed mercs.

"Hey, which one of you bastards was throwing the junk at me?"

"Take him down!"

Sill having his stolen assault rifle with him, Trent jumped to the side and fired against the hired lackeys. Shooting one down than the other, it was time for the musician to move on to the next cart. Each part of the train, Trent met with more obstacles of mercenaries. One of them managed to get a few shots into Trent's side and force him into a corner.

"Argh! Dammit!" Trent cursed after his wound.

Taking cover again, Trent grabbed a second assault rifle from a fallen merc and dual wields his way down the train. Shooting down thug after thug, he continued down the freight vehicle.

"Is there an end to you guys?" He inquired as more mercenaries pop out of nowhere.

The thugs in the orange jumpsuits, yellow hardhats, and gas masks continue to barrage the musician with bullets. His own guns soon ran out of bullets as he relies simply on smashing the last thug down with the guns themselves.

Now that the final mercenary had been dealt with, only one more cart remained ahead of the musician. As Trent approached the front and final train cart, Tyrone King was standing there on it before him. TK casually applauds the musician over his triumph by arrogantly clapping his hands.

"What the HELL are you up to, TK?" Trent yelled at TIR's host.

"Just enjoying the land of opportunity, Trent!" Tyrone smugly answered.

"YOU FRAMED ME! THAT FOOTAGE WAS FAKE!"

"Don't be such a downer, baby," TK kept his arrogant grin at the musician, "Wasn't your show's theme, "I Wanna Be Famous?" Well now you are, Trent!"

"I'm not playing your games, TK! You're coming with me, and you're gonna tell the whole world that I didn't do this!" the musician commanded.

"Oh, I don't think so," TK smugly backed away on the front train cart to some switches, "What can I say? The camera loves you, Trenty!"

Tyrone pulled a lever, causing the front cart to detach from the rest of the train. Being the cart with the train's engine, the rest of the carts would soon come to a stop. Trent angrily watches as the train he was on separates from his target's.

TK then pulled out a handgun and aims at the musician. Firing his gun, Trent narrowly dodged the bullet and takes cover from the next few rounds. Once the gunfire halted, Trent peaked out and watches helplessly as TK's single cart train took off away from his sight. The detached carts then finally come to a screeching halt and the musician is forced to board off. As he did, his transceiver rang.

"Trent," Stacey said on the communicator.

"What is it?" the musician responded.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"What's going on?"

"It was TK," Trent firmly revealed, "He's the one behind this outbreak"

"The host of that terrible show?" The CURE leader was astonished of the revelation.

"Yeah, he was moving equipment using the trains, but I have no idea what it's for… He's up to something… something big… This isn't over yet"

"Trent, that's going to have to wait, Cody and Gwen are in rough shape after fighting their own battles. Just come back here with them, and we can clear this up with Sullivan"

"Okay," the musician said after hanging up the phone.

Sighing to himself, he looks back at all the cargo that TK's mercenaries were loading up. Then, the thought of his two closest friends came to mind and the musician quickly made off up the ramp to find his way back to the main level of Fortune City.

****Later****

All three and their party members eventually meet back up just in front of the corridor between the air duct and the Royal Flush Plaza.

"Trent! Cody! You're both okay!" A bloodied goth stated, while weakly stumbling over to them.

Cody, who was equally as beaten up, grinned back, "Yeah, we had more obstacles than we thought. But hey, I found Owen and Sierra!"

"You did?" the musician cut in. He then noticed Owen's state, "What happened to the big guy?"

The geek frowned, "I'll give you the details later"

Cody then notices the blond survivor Gwen had rescued shyly hiding behind her.

"Who's that?"

The coy fan, Karry, nervously hid from her skeptic idol.

"Trent, did you find out who was behind all this" the goth asked, changing the subject.

"It was Tyrone King, I'll share my details as well when we are out of this, let's go!"

Trent, Cody, Gwen, Sierra, Karry and a carried Owen, ran down the dark hallway and eventually reach the air duct along with the two shopping carts. After crawling through with their cargo, they finally make it into the safehouse bunker.

"Cody, you and Sierra take Owen and try to help the guy when you're done loading the food. Gwen and I need to talk to Stacey" the musician instructed as the blushing Karry fled into the bunker now that the opportunity allowed it.

"Got it," Cody affirmed and took his stalker and the traumatized Owen into the cafeteria room.

Meanwhile, Trent and Gwen walk into the surveillance room where Stacey was there to meet them.

"So Tyrone King set Trent up?" the goth asked the CURE leader.

"Apparently so" Stacey confirmed from watching the scene on the monitors, "Rebecca Chang is due to meet back here tomorrow morning and I already informed Sullivan so he's going to back off for now"

"So what happens to 'til then?" the musician asked.

"I'll keep an eye on the monitors, as for all of you, I suggest taking this opportunity to catch up on some sleep"

Gwen and Trent look at each other, shocked that because of all the pandemonium, they hadn't realized before that they haven't slept since they first set food in Fortune City.

"I'll wake both of you up in time for Gwen's next medication, until then"

They both nod and left the room.

Meanwhile, Cody simply left Owen as is for now and hoping a good night sleep would also help the chubby teen overcome his ordeal and went with Sierra into the room where they kept Snowflake. Giving the tiger her daily intake of steak, the tired pair gets settled in themselves.

"You know Sierra, you don't have to sleep right next to me," the geek nervously said as she cuddles up next to him.

"Oh Codykins, I am just so happy to be reunited with you!" the fangirl stated while affectionately nuzzling him.

The geek was in no condition to argue. She saved his life, so she at least earned this despite the geek preferring to be at Gwen's side. Trying not to focus on his stalker, Cody just lied there hoping tomorrow would have much less horror and heartbreak in it. He silently closed his eyes, praying he'll be somewhere else when he wakes up from this nightmare.

Gwen also prepares to sleep in her own room of the safehouse. She nervously inspected the bite mark on her ankle and dreaded the idea of missing her daily medication. Another thought that crossed her mind as she lied there, where was Duncan in all this? Knowing him, he would survive this anarchy better than anyone. But why hasn't he come up on Stacey's monitors yet?

Trent lied in a room of his own as well, eager for the next day to begin, "TK… You are not getting away with this…"

**And thus ends Day 1…**

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 56:59:59**

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A/N:**** Whew, 6k word chapters are a bit hard to do, hehe, let me know if incorporating songs in battles help.  
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	10. Boom Town!

**A/N: Anyone miss me? No? Damn! Anyways, I finally updated this story but I may eventually just discontinue it and work on some other project. But who knows, the reviewers can make the difference :P**

**Chef Antoine: I'm still waiting for my reviewers!**

**A/N: Hush you!**

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Time Before Military Arrives: 49:59:58**

After a brief, but good night sleep, the teens are awoken at seven in the morning for Gwen's daily Zombrex injection. Trent injected the suppressant into the goth's arm so that she would survive another day against her zombie infection, or at least until day three, where Trent would have to find yet another box of Zombrex to give to her. With less than two hours until Rebecca Chang would meet up with everyone in the safehouse, everyone spent the remaining time eating in the cafeteria room. Trent, Gwen, Cody, and Sierra sat in one table together.

"With us, Chris, Chef, Owen, Alejandro, and Justin safely here, and Beth, Katie and Sadie are dead, there's now fourteen of us still out there," Trent began after Hatchet served everyone breakfast from the supplies delivered by Cody.

"I've seen Tyler, but he wouldn't come with me without Lindsay," the geek informed.

"That idiot…" the musician cursed.

"Well, after we tell Rebecca who the real culprit behind the outbreak is, we can then focus on finding everyone else," Gwen mentioned with enthusiasm.

"Guys, I'm still worried about Owen," Sierra cut in, "He hasn't eaten anything since… you know…"

Everyone turns to see the chubby teen sitting at the table across from them while still in his silent, traumatized state. To make the mood worse, Alejandro walked into the cafeteria room to help himself to a soda.

The Latin gave his vintage smug smirk at the group, "I, for one, am rather repulsed Owen had to resort to the same thing the zombies do"

Everyone glares back at him.

"You know, you could actually help us in saving the others…" the goth informed.

Alejandro shrugged, "No one helped me when I was doused in lava and I survived…"

Everyone continues to scowl at him as he left and then turned back to Owen who remained silent.

"Give him time," Trent assured, "Once we're out of this hellhole, we'll have all the time we need into helping the big guy out"

****Later****

"It was Tyrone King. He's the one who framed us," that was the first thing that came out of Trent's mouth when he finally reunited with Rebecca Chang and Stacey in the surveillance room at nine o'clock am.

"TK? Are you sure?" the Channel 6 Action News reporter questioned.

"He admitted it to my face!" Trent firmly stood by his word.

"But that's not possible," Rebecca argued, "Why would he just let his own zombie supply loose? Sabotage his own show?"

"I saw him with my own eyes"

"So you say"

"Is that who your source is? TK?" Trent angrily inquired.

Rebecca scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous, Trent"

****BOOM!****

Interrupting the conversation was a sudden explosion that shook up the entire bunker.

"Whoa! What was that?" Gwen asked while startled.

"It sounded like it came from outside," Stacey informed while checking the monitors, "Looks like someone might be messing with the casino vaults. I can't tell who it is though"

"Then I'd better get out there and find out for myself," Rebecca took Trent's line and confidently prepared to head back into hell.

Everyone astonishingly watches her leave without saying a word.

"I don't know if she's really brave… or just really stupid…" Stacey speculated.

"Guess I better head out there too," Trent tells everyone else in the room.

"I'm coming with then" Gwen announced.

"Me too" Cody added.

"Are you two sure?" Trent questioned.

"I think by now you can be sure we can carry our own weight," Cody said with a gap toothed grin.

"NOOOOOOO!" Sierra jumped into the surveillance room and tackles the geek, "I don't want you to go! It's too dangerous out there!"

"Sierra I… too tight…" the geek gasped while in the tight hold of his stalker. After finally prying himself out of her grip, "Sierra, I'll be fine. Don't worry"

"But Cody, I just…"

"I'LL BE OKAY!" Cody shouts after built up frustration.

Sierra just fell back in defeat.

"Well we better get going then" Gwen said, ending the argument for the pair.

Cody wasted no time in darting out the door with Trent and Gwen following the geek. All three of them crawl through the air duct and back to the dark corridor leading to the Royal Flush Plaza. As the trio made their way down the hallway, Trent's transceiver rang.

"Stacey?" the musician answered.

"Trent, looks like there are three operations going on in three of the four casino vaults, if you want to investigate all of them in time, you three may need to split up. But be careful, the workers are all armed"

"Got it, thanks" Trent said before hanging up. He then pulled out his city brochure to inspect the map.

"Cody, you go to the Slot Ranch Casino vaults. Gwen, you hit up the Americana. I'll find the Yucatan Casino and check there, got it?"

"Yes!" Cody answered.

"Got it, Trent," Gwen added.

"Oh, and I almost forgot" the musician stated while pulling some firearms from his backside, "I took all the guns I could from the mercenaries back down in the underground tunnels. They should come in handy"

"Well, guns are better for hunting, not zombie killing" Gwen informed knowing the vulnerabilities of trying to man firearms against a relentless zombie horde, "But I suppose those assault rifles could come in handy against individual threats"

"Just know that I couldn't grab some extra ammo at the time, so what's in each barrel is all we got"

Now that all three of them have an assault rifle at hand, they continue to make off to their next destinations. Continuing their path down the shadowy hallway, they see a few zombies mindlessly staggering around the door to the Royal Flush Plaza.

"Shit, I didn't think we'd have to use ammo this soon" the musician cursed.

"Anyone else hear a buzzing?" Cody asked.

Trent and Gwen freeze to hear the eerie sound as well and they notice a strange looking insect flying around them. The insect dives towards Cody, but the geek swatted it hard enough for the bug to fall to the ground. The geek then turned towards the zombie direction with the other two as the mindless undead approach the three.

"Brace yourselves…" Gwen instructed as all three ready their guns.

Cody nervously stepped backwards and unknowingly crushes the fallen insect underneath his shoe.

"BLEAAAAAAH!" The zombies all scream with dread as they start to shake rampantly as if they were all having a seizure. Trent, Gwen, and Cody's eyes all widen to see the reaction as the zombies continue to stroke out. Eventually, all of the zombie's heads utterly explode in a gory fashion. To add even more intrigue, worms shoot out of the created openings and they instantly die afterwards.

"Unreal…" was all Trent could say.

Cody lifts his heel up to see the remains of the crushed insect, "Could it be from this?"

Gwen and Trent noticed the crushed bug and wondered if that had an effect on the zombies.

"Maybe we should try and catch one of those bugs if we run into them again" Gwen suggested.

"Perhaps Stacey knows more about this, I think we should ask her when we get back from the vaults" Trent suggested as well.

After reaching the Royal Flush Plaza, the three parted ways.

"Come back alive you two" Trent ordered.

"You too" Gwen responded while leaving the boys.

****Gwen****

Gwen was the first to reach her destination. As soon as she walked into the Americana Casino from the right of the plaza, she heard gunfire from across said gaming establishment. Following the sound of the fired rounds, Gwen sees none other than the same mercenaries in orange jumpsuits, gasmasks, hardhats, and assault rifles that Trent fought in the Underground Tunnels. Shooting down any and all zombies that would interfere with their business, they didn't seem keen on letting anything moving from getting in their way. The goth knew they'd be trouble, and as if on cue, they see her approach them and proceed to shoot at the goth.

Taking cover from behind a row of slot machines, the goth readies her own assault rifle to return fire. She knew very well these thugs are responsible for framing her ex for this outbreak and she had no intention of letting them get away with it.

One of the mercenaries was signaled to pursue the goth, not knowing she was armed as well. Biding her time, she let the lackey approach her. Just as he turned the slot machine corner, she blind sights the merc with a barrage of shells, taking him out in an instant. Compared to indirectly killing Sadie, a merciless gunman can be taken out with little regret.

"That bitch!" Another merc curses, "Take her out!"

****Cody****

After finally making his way down the other side of the Royal Flush Plaza with Trent, Cody parts with him as he enters the Slot Ranch Casino while Trent heads out the door to Park on route to the Yucatan Casino. The geek, meanwhile, enters the former and there he sees the same type of lackeys Gwen is currently dealing with.

The mercenaries here in the Texas themed casino were just as hostile to the living and they fired at the geek on sight. Cody did the exact same thing as Gwen and took cover by running down the slot machine aisles, eluding the armed thugs.

****Trent****

After making his way back up the Silver Strip outside, Trent entered the Mayan themed Yucatan Casino. Fortunately for the musician, the mercenaries here were preoccupied by the zombie horde that mobbed the entrance to the casino vaults. The armed thugs shot their assault rifles at each oncoming zombie. The musician had to be sneaky to subtly get close to the lackeys.

****Gwen****

Back in the Americana Casino, the goth and the mercenaries exchange gunfire while at the same time, fending off the zombie interceptors. After running out of ammo with her current gun, she commandeered the one from the previously dispatched merc and continues to fire at the other mercenaries.

Because of the lack of cover the thugs had, Gwen eventually prevailed and shot down the last one. She then made off into the vault room.

****Cody****

Cody got more creative in his strategy with dealing with the mercenaries in the Slot Ranch Casino. While the thugs search the casino for the scrawny kid, he hid in the casino gift shop.

"I gotta do something, I never used a gun before…" the geek silently whispered to himself.

Suddenly, he heard something move from behind him.

"Who's there?" Cody asked nervously.

As the figure continued to move around, the geek, keeping quiet, crept up towards the figure. Just as he got a visible look at the stranger, said entity smiles right back at him.

"Wanna be friends?"

Cody jumped back with fear until he realized that the speaker was just a giant, stuffed, and mechanical teddy bear the size of the geek himself. The mechanical teddy did a dancing motion with a big smile on its face.

"I love you!" the robot bear announced.

The geek ignored the toy and looked back to see the mercenaries still looking for him. He then noticed yet another maintenance door in this casino. His vintage ingenuity kicked in as he inspected his gun and then turned to the mechanical bear.

"Do you wanna play with me?" The mechanical bear continued.

The geek grinned, "Yes I do"

****Trent****

"Dammit, these zombies don't take breaks, do they?" one of the mercenaries tells another as the rampaging horde continues their assault.

"Hey assholes!" Trent angrily said as the hired lackeys turn back behind of them just before getting barraged in gunfire.

The musician turned towards the Yucatan vault entrance and went in.

"Take him down!" Another squad all say as they fire at the musician.

Trent bolted to take cover behind a counter and returns fire. There were no zombies to create a diversion in the vault room so Trent was on his own. As the musician was taking cover he sees a green object landing next to him. Trent squinted to get a good look at it until…

"SHIT!"

Following a large explosion from the grenade, Trent is thrown across the room and collides into the wall.

"Looks like that took care of that nuisance," one of the mercenaries said as they overlooked the musician's motionless body.

"What should we do with what's left? Throw it to the zombies?"

"Well TK, should be relieved that this guy is finally out of the way"

"PYSCHE!" Trent ends his feigned death and he fires his assault rifle to take out the remaining thugs with their guard down.

Relieved that the chaos was finally over, the musician noticed a running piece of machinery in the room. Stepping up closer to it, he realized that it was a large mechanical drill drilling its way into the money safe as means to get its loot.

"You're not getting away with the prize, TK," Trent sternly said as he took a nearby crowbar and smashed the drilling contraption into a scrap heap.

****Gwen****

The goth's fight in the Americana Casino Vault continued on as she exchanged gunfire with the mercenaries. Thankfully, some good came from Gwen's time on Total Drama as she athletically maneuvered her way past the line of fire and striking down the thugs with the blunt end of her firearm. As she lunged her weapon at the last thug, said final mercenary caught it.

"Nice try, missy!" He callously stated before slamming Gwen against the wall.

As Gwen tried to recover from the blow to the head, she realized that the merc had a gun ready to shoot her down for good.

Just before he could pull the trigger, from out of nowhere, a zombie snuck up from behind and tackles the mercenary. Gwen cringed to see the corpse rip into the man's jugular and devour the entrails that came out of it. Not taking risks, Gwen shoots down the zombie and diverts her attention to the mechanized drill in this casino vault. Not letting it finish the job in breaking the safe, the goth fires all her rounds to destroy the device.

"That takes care of that" Gwen stated before heading back to the Royal Flush Plaza.

****Cody****

The mercenaries in the Slot Ranch Casino Vault noticed a silence from outside where one of their squads were guarding while the inner ones were drilling through the safe. Suddenly they see a short figure peaking inside the vault room. Curious, they slowly approach said figure while readying their assault rifles. As they got closer, they finally see the mechanical teddy bear with some modifications to it. One of which is an assault rifle duct taped to the bear's paw and pointing back at the thugs. It also wore a comically placed red bandana around its head. Attached to the Freedom Bear was a long thread which was pulled to turn on the bear.

"I love you!" The bear said as it starts shooting its own barrage of gunfire as its dancing motions scattered the gunfire, dispatching the hired lackeys.

The unique construct made quick work of the mercenaries and Cody then deactivated it and approached the drill that was operating in this casino vault. The geek reactivated the bear to finish the rest of its rounds to destroy this third driller.

"Glad that's over," Cody said confidently, "I guess I'll meet Gwen and Trent back at the safehouse"

****Trent****

The musician stepped out of the Yucatan vault to return to the safehouse as well. However, his transceiver went off again.

"Stacey?"

"Trent," The leader of CURE informs, "There's one more break-in going on at the Atlantica Casino vault!"

"Atlantica?"

"It's the fourth casino of Fortune City, it's just across the park from the Royal Flush Plaza, but the vault is just outside back down the Silver Strip"

"I'll be right there," Trent said before hanging up.

The musician grabbed as many assault rifles as he can carry before heading towards his next destination.

****Cody and Gwen****

After shooting their way back towards the bunker, the geek and the goth meet back up in front of the dark corridor leading to the safehouse.

"Gwen, glad you made it out okay!" Cody happily stated.

"Me too, did you see Trent yet?" the goth asked.

"Not yet, maybe he already made it inside"

"If only we had a transceiver as well" Gwen lamented.

****Trent****

"Come on, hurry up!" One of the mercs ordered as they guarded an armored van being loaded with cash from the Atlantica Casino vaults.

Trent hid behind the park fountain, watching the events take place. Many of the thugs were concentrating at keeping the zombies back as they continue to load up their loot.

Dual wielding two assault rifles in the most badass way possible, Trent revealed himself and opened fire on the mercenaries. The lackeys were too slow to respond as the musician reigns down a barrage of bullets taking out the thugs. After finishing the last group of mercenaries, Trent sets his sights on the armored van.

"Not on my watch," Trent sternly stated as he begins firing every bullet he had left at the reinforced vehicle.

It took every gun he had on him before the armored van began to be set ablaze. The musician then ran behind the fountain again as the flaming vehicle intensified before finally exploding in a loud…

****BOOOOOOOOOM!****

Hearing the explosion occur, none other than Tyrone King himself stepped out, overlooking the scene above one of the Silver Strip's building rooftops, as well as another mercenary bodyguard. Trying to get a signal from his other break-ins, TK gets more and more frustrated.

"DAMMIT!" the Terror is Reality host cursed, "What do I pay you people for?"

TK then proceeded to walk away while calling on another line with his phone.

"We're staying a bit longer than planned, boys," He stated before leaving the scene.

Meanwhile at the ground level of the strip, Rebecca entered the scene and videotaped the destroyed armored van. Eager for the big story, the reporter stepped closer to the busted vehicle for a better shot. Recording the dead mercenaries as well, the scoop made her more enthusiastic than ever.

"Fan-tastic!" Rebecca eagerly shouted out loud.

Her enjoyment was cut short when the van explodes a second time. Trent jumped out of nowhere and pulls the reporter away from the blast. The two are thrown back to the stony ground after the explosion.

"You got a real knack for showing up at the right time, don't you?" Trent asked rhetorically, "Have you covered wars or something?"

"Not until now," Rebecca stated while getting back up and helping up Trent as well, "Everybody has a first time, Trent"

"So, you believe me now? They're robbing the damn city," Trent explained, "That's why they started this. For money. You sure got your story now"

"Listen, I've got a meeting with my source tonight. I think maybe it's time you met," Rebecca informed.

"I thought a professional journalist never gave up a source" the musician reminded.

"I think this is kind of a special case, Trent" the reporter rebutted, "I'll meet you at eleven 'o'clock, in the bar at the Yucatan" Rebecca said as she proceeded to walk away.

"Okay" Trent said, watching her leave.

The musician then decided to return to the safehouse until then.

Running towards the entrance to the Royal Flush Plaza again, he notices some figures in a nearby store. Now that he had the time to look around again, Trent enters the store in the hopes of finding more survivors.

"Anyone in here?" the musician called out.

One figure responds, "Yeah, we're in here! Got something of value there, hippie?"

"Not these guys again…" Trent muttered, much to his discontent, he had run into more looters like the ones from the pharmacy. Fortunately, however, these guys were less of a threat than the mercenaries.

"Got any money?" Another looter came forward in the traditional hoodie and red bandana outfit that patents the looters in Fortune City.

Trent readied his weapon, preparing for a fight.

"Hold on, guys," a third hooded and bandanaed looter stepped forward, "I know this one"

The musician's eyes widen to see this looter remove his cloaked features to reveal an all too familiar face.

"DUNCAN?"

**Time Before Military Arrives: 44:59:59**


	11. The Lastest Crusade

**A/N: Still iffy whether or not I'll continue this. But until I get another good idea to write about, I will gradually continue to work on this.**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 44:59:58**

* * *

"DUNCAN?" was all Trent could say when one of the looters he just encountered was none other than the delinquent he was far too familiar with.

"Sup Elvis?" Duncan greeted with his patented casual tone.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Trent hastily inquired.

"What do you mean?" the delinquent shrugged back, "This is an anarchist's dream come true! A few zombies aren't gonna stop me from grabbing some LCD's"

Trent was in no mood for his ex-lover's lover's laid back attitude in the most extreme of circumstances. But he did want to keep the conversation going in a more progressive manner.

"Listen, there's a safehouse not too far away, I can take you there"

"Is Gwen there?" Duncan ended his casual demeanor to a more serious attitude since it does regard the livelihood of his gothic girlfriend.

Trent eyed the one guy who has the girl the musician loves more than the world itself, "Yes"

Interrupting the conversation, one of looters walks up to the two, "Duncan, the carts loaded, let's get the fuck out of here"

The delinquent turned back to the musician, "I'll pick Pasty up after I'm done salvaging a few more things"

Trent frowned angrily, "So that's it? You're just going to keep looting and having the time of your life and then grab her the last minute?"

Duncan glared back at him, "Listen buddy, I understand there's probably a shit load of romantic tension between us. But you had your chance, and you blew it. I'm not gonna make the same mistake you made, so you're just going to have to deal"

The musician could only sigh in defeat.

"Just keep her safe until I am ready to pick her up," the delinquent repeated while parting with the other two looters from the store they all were in. Duncan, however, then turns back to Trent, "By the way, anything else I should know about?"

"No, nothing," Trent quickly answered back.

"Whatever then, later Elvis"

The musician watched his love rival leave with the other looters in cold silence. A sheer look of guilt and frustration soon followed. He knew that Duncan could have found a way to get more Zombrex from his looting peers if he knew his girlfriend was infected. But the musician was too selfish to give the glory away and he knew it. Gritting his teeth, he couldn't stand the idea that Duncan would oust him in yet another competition. Trying to cope with it, he vowed to find the Zombrex himself before it ever became too late, even after everyone escapes this hell. Interrupting his thoughts was yet another ring from his transceiver.

"Trent, if you wouldn't mind taking a detour, I saw some activity going on over in the Palisades Mall," Stacey informed him.

"I'll go check it out, thanks"

Trent pulled out his brochure and inspects it for the quickest route to his newest destination. He concludes that going through the Atlantica Casino would be the best path. Putting away his brochure, he grabs a wrench that was probably used by one of the looters and heads off to where all the commotions were happening.

****Safehouse****

"**Ampulex Compressa Giganteus" Stacey informed the other two survivalists as well as one's stalker.**

"**Ampula Compressa Whatta?" Gwen, Cody, and Sierra all respond in unison. **

"**Ampulex Compressa Giganteus, they **are the biologically and genetically modified wasps responsible for the very first zombie outbreak down in a South American town called Santa Cabeza," the leader of CURE elaborates.

"These zombies originated from those bugs?" the goth questioned.

Stacey nodded, "A U.S. government-funded research facility was established in the town whose scientific personnel, lead by Dr. Russell Barnaby, aimed to find a way to accelerate reproduction of the local cattle population for rapidly increasing American consumer demand. During their research, they discovered the species' presence. It was a previously unidentified and undiscovered species of insect. The team witnessed first-hand the insect's birth process and its dependency upon host species to live. The wasps also possessed their own version of queens, mature insect matriarchs who conduct the hosting process. Dr. Barnaby and his research team were going to harness the species and use its abnormal but useful properties to accelerate the production of meat. They experimented on rats and cattle to see what the new species would do to its host. Unfortunately a queen escaped the facility; instead they witnessed the horrifying effect the species had on humans"

**(A/N: Once again, I stole that quote from the DR wiki, sue me!)**

Cody asks, "So the wasp we came across before…"

"…The fully grown ACG specimens appear to have an adverse effect on human hosts, or "zombies", as they can make their heads explode if crushed. This could be to do with pheromones, but was never formally concluded," Stacey firmly answered before the question was finished.

"How did they make it all the way up here?" Gwen also questioned.

"Terrorists that want to fuck up our country," none other than Sullivan said as he steps into the surveillance room, "Fortunately, the disease can also be the cure. Zombrex's main ingredient is extracted from the Queens that you came across earlier. You can thank the Phenotrans Company for that"

A thought came across Gwen's mind. She gets up and walks to a nearby cupboard. The goth then pulled out some small plastic containers.

"If we come across another one of those queens, we can put it in these containers to save if we're ever in a zombie related jam," the goth suggested.

"Good thinking" Cody praised.

"By the way," Gwen turned back at Stacey, "How's Trent been doing so far?"

"I sent him on a detour mission, there was stuff going down in the other mall," The CURE activist informed.

The five turn and watch Trent as he enters the Atlantica Casino en route to the Palisades Mall from the security cameras. Cody's eyes drift towards another monitor in the room to see a shadowy figure in the Silver Strip.

"Did you guys see that?" the geek asked the girls.

"Something just went into the wedding chapel," Gwen elaborated for him.

"Well, no sense in sending Trent to go back for that detour, I'll go check it out" Cody volunteered.

"Do you have any more guns left with you?" the goth inquired.

"Fraid not, I ditched my Freedom Bear when carrying it back here became too much of a hassle," Cody regrettably informed, "But don't worry, I am good at improvising"

"I should come with you, Cody Muffin!" Sierra happily offered, "So we can have ourselves a detour of our own…"

Cody nervously grinned back, "I think it's a little dangerous for you Sierra, you should just stay here where it's safe"

"…Okay…" Sierra submitted.

"Good luck, Cody," Gwen said as he parts.

The geek then leaves the safehouse through the air duct.

****Trent****

The musician finds himself in the Atlantica Casino now. It was an Atlantis themed casino with aquariums, mermaid architecture, and fountains up the ying yang. It also had its own room specifically for Poker. Oh and there's zombies here. Lots and lots of zombies. Trent puts away his wrench and grabs a trident from one of the merman statues and wields it against the undead horde. Stabbing all in his way with the pitchfork-like object, he fights his way down the casino. The Palisades Mall was just on the other side of the gaming center. Eventually, the trident plows through enough corpses to take the musician into the other mall.

****Cody****

Stepping out of the dark corridor, the geek returns to the Royal Flush Plaza. Without a weapon, things could get bad and fast for him. Running down the mall, he scans the area, looking for a store with the right weapon. Stepping into the sporting goods store, he pulls out an aluminum bat. A bit heavier than his old nailbat, but more durable as well. Ramming the bluntest end into an oncoming zombie, the geek continues down the plaza to the wedding chapel in the Silver Strip.

****Trent****

Now in the Palisades Mall, the musician walks down it to find where all the action was going on. Zombie groaning aside, the entire place was disturbingly quiet. Even the cheery elevator music was off here.

"Anyone around?" the musician called out down the mall's walkway.

Suddenly, he hears the clank of metalwork in a nearby store. Following the sound, he enters the store where the ruckus was going on. Surveilling said store, it appeared to be an authentic medieval weaponry store with swords, axes, maces, crossbows, etc with renaissance decoration of suits of armor and medieval paintings and tapestry.

"Someone in here?" he called out again.

Continuing to inspect room, he walks down to the store's counter. Then he hears the clanking coming up from behind him. Quickly turning around, one of the suits of armor suddenly sprouts to life. The musician was taken back at this surprise. The suit of armor was alabaster white and its occupier was invisible behind the protective shell he resided in.

"Halt!" the man in the suit of white armor ordered with a deep muffled voice.

Trent paused to see where this stranger was going.

"The scourge continues to run rampant and brings the Black Death onto our houses! The mage's box revealed that you, Trent Smith, are the offender for this plague!" the Alabaster Knight informed, referring to the reporter on the television.

"Listen buddy, it was not me," Trent said, not amused by this game.

"Do not speak deceit to me, heretic! Your transgressions shan't go unpunished! I will see your head on a pike for all that thou hath committed! If thou hath any honor at all, you shall accept my duel!"

"I don't have time for this. Listen, the footage was fake, now quit being an idiot and come with me to the safehouse"

"Do not underestimate me," the knight angrily shot back, "RETRIBUTION IS NIGH!"

The Alabaster Knight walks up to the display weaponry and pulled out a heavy battleaxe.

"PREPARE TO BE SMITED, HEATHEN!"

The Alabaster Knight swings his mighty weapon at the musician. Trent, thinking quickly rolled out of the way before losing the upper half of his torso. Getting out of the cramped area, the musician flees the store and back out to the mall itself.

"WHERE'S THOU HONOR?" the knight psychopath said as he gave chase to the musician.

"Where do these guys come from?" Trent cursed to himself as he continues to run from the psychopath in white armor.

Unfortunately, a wall of flesheaters blocked Trent's escape route. As for the Alabaster Knight, his steel armor protected himself from the bites of the zombies and allowing him to cleave the horde with the might of his battleaxe. Trent was out of options. He had to fight back. Pulling out his Atlantica trident, he prepared himself before the knight.

Trent glares at the knight, "Let's joust"

"HAVE AT THEE!"

The Alabaster Knight charges at the musician and swings his battleaxe against the trident. The impact of the clashing weapons was just too much for the trident and the replica shatters.

"Now, the pike awaits your severed HEAD!" the psychopath exclaims as he goes for a victory swing.

Trent rolls out of the way in the nick of time again. He then pulled out his wrench and smacks the helm of the suit of armor with it. The impacting sound of clashing metal to the eardrum disorients the knight, allowing the musician to regain some distant. The wrench would prove to be too unreliable for him, so Trent ran back to the medieval weaponry store with the Alabaster Knight trailing him.

"You shall not escape JUSTICE!"

Trent, short on time, rummaged for a usable weapon in the store's armory. His new weapon of choice became a broadsword to wield against the battleaxe wielding knight assailant. The Alabaster Knight was not intimidated by this and swings his axe yet again at the musician. Using both arms, Trent parries the oncoming blow back with his blade. The recoil sent the man in the suit of armor back, giving the musician a chance to counter by swinging his sword and striking the breastplate of the white armor.

"It takes more than that to penetrate my lustrous armor!" the knight taunted.

Noticing the zombie attraction to the fight, Trent rolled past the knight again and made out from the store, leaving the undead to keep the knight at bay.

"BACK, FOUL BEASTS!" the Alabaster Knight yelled as he chops down each one with his axe.

The strength of the axe head cut through the rotted flesh like butter for the protected psychopath. After dispatching the group, the Alabaster Knight pursues the musician once again. This moment of relief allowed him to pinpoint the openings in the knight's armor. Trent then prepares for the knight and lunges his blade at him again back out in the halls of the Palisades Mall. With the might of the axe, it was the Alabaster Knight's turn to parry with enough force to push the musician back in recoil.

"YOU SHAN'T FLEE THIS TIME!" The knight yelled as Trent tries to jump back.

The blades of the axe, however, slice across his torso.

"GAAAAAAHHHH!" the musician screamed in agony as blood trailed from the slash mark.

Fortunately, the axe wasn't deep enough to mortally wound him. However, the blood loss was still heavy. Not wasting time with a grounded musician, the knight raised his battleaxe again for a second swing. Trent hastily grabbed his sword and stabbed in leg openings of the armor.

"AAAARRGH!" the Alabaster Knight yelled in pain of his own.

Trent staggered back to regain distance once more while clenching his open wound.

"NO MORE OF THESE GAMES! THOU SHALL PERISH FOR WHAT THOU HAS COMMITED!" the Alabaster Knight screamed through the helm and swings his axe around with the weight of the head controlling the motion.

He moved like a spinning top as the twirling axe head shifting him towards the musician. The musician tries to step back but falls backwards atop of a bench, leaving him all the more helpless from the spinning attack. The wounded musician took cover under the bench just before the spiraling battleaxe chopped down upon him.

As Trent's life flashed through his eyes, he looks up to see the battleaxe wedged into the metal part of the bench. While the Alabaster Knight tried to pull the heavy weapon out, this was Trent's one opportunity to get a strike in. Grabbing the broadsword again, Trent lunges the blade through the breastplate's openings and into the knight's fleshy torso.

"GAAAAAAAAAHH!" The bloody scream of the knight caused the crimson liquid to leak out of the helm.

Trent only fell back, still recovering from his own wound.

"…" the knight grew silence as he inspects his lethal blow, "Milady!"

Crouching in dying agony, the Alabaster stumbles back into the medieval weaponry store. Trent watches him stagger away and subtly follows him. The knight continues down to the back room of the store. It was then that the knight finally removed his helm. Trent gasped to realize who his opponent had been this entire time.

"…Harold…"

None other than the imaginative ginger nerd everyone grew annoyed and eventually attached to was the one who had the vendetta against Trent and his allegations.

"What have I done?" Trent asked in disbelief.

The dying nerd in alabaster armor walks to a table with a lamp suspended above it. Atop the table and under the bright light was corpse dressed in renaissance regalia.

Harold coughs out more blood from his impaled torso, "Princess… I have failed to avenge you…"

Trent sees that the woman he was talking about was a lifeless Leshawna, who lies motionlessly atop the table. This revelation made things even worse for Trent. The girl with attitude didn't make it past the outbreak. Without the girl who loved him for him, Harold naturally sought revenge for the one responsible for it. The one who was framed for the zombie outbreak itself… Trent.

As life begins to fade for Harold, he leans forward above Leshawna and presses his bleeding lips against her cold ones, "…Forgive me… Leshawna…"

Trent fell to his knees after the nerd perishes next to his lover with overwhelming guilt once more.

"I… killed… Harold…"

****Gwen****

Back in the safehouse's surveillance room, the goth watched the conclusion of Trent's battle with tearful eyes.

"Harold… Leshawna… no…" Gwen burst into bigger tears as Stacey tries to comfort her, "Who else didn't make it out of this?"

"I guess you're not the only murderer among us" Alejandro cut in while casually leaning against the doorway.

Gwen angrily got up and slapped the Latin master of manipulation, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! ALL YOU HAVE BEEN DOING IS SITTING BACK AND RIDICULING EVERYONE AS WE TRY AND SAVE THEM!"

Alejandro raised an eyebrow, "What are you gonna do? Kill me like you did Sadie?"

"There's someone else out there!" Stacey interrupted the moment of tension.

Gwen shrugs off the cold words of the Latin mastermind and looks at the monitor, she sees one figure in the fetal position with another protecting the former with a shotgun fending off the zombie horde in the Slot Ranch Casino.

"It's DJ and his mom!" the goth announced.

"Cody already went the other direction from there, and he doesn't have a transceiver we can communicate with him with," the CURE leader regrettably informed.

"Then I'll go," Gwen volunteered, "Beats sitting here and listening to this asshole talk"

Gwen got up and walked past Alejandro, who only scoffed back at her. She then goes through the air duct and into the dark corridor leading to the Royal Flush Plaza.

****Cody****

Finally reaching the Silver Strip, the geek enters the Las Vegas-style wedding chapel of Fortune City. Preparing for anything, Cody readies his aluminum bat and walks in.

"Randall… my son… I… I think you should reconsider…" a priest said as he is suspended over an altar before a wedding couple. One a bride, taken against her will by the bridegroom. The groom was an overweight teen in a tight, black leather, rabbit, fetish suit. Even more disturbing was the tool he carried… a giant pink chainsaw. Apparently, it was to ensure the wedding would go off without a hitch.

"RANDY!" the gimp with a stuffed pig cock-piece corrects, "Father… call me Randy!"

The warty pervert chuckled back to his bride.

"GET ON WITH IT!" he then angrily ordered his dad.

The father submits, "Do you… Randy… take this woman to be your..."

The perverted man in the black leather suit spoke in a more pleasured tone, "Mmmmmm… I do… Father… I do… Oooooh…"

The bride couldn't take it anymore and tries to flee, but Randy quickly grabbed her.

"Let me go, you CREEP!" she screamed at the gimp.

"Don't worry honey… the other ones didn't mean anything to me…" he assured as the couple looks to see a bridal corpse lying motionlessly on one of the chapel pews.

Randy then grabs the girl's head and lifts her closer to his warty face.

He whispers, "Just remember to say "I do"."

Randy then turned to his father who still hung over above the couple, "You wanted me to wait until I was married… well, I'm not waiting anymore!"

A sadistic grin then showed on the gimp's face.

"Oh I knew I wouldn't die a virgin!" He then tugs the pull cord from the giant pink chainsaw in a suggestive manner as if the action gave him sexual gratification, "Oh, I can't WAIT! I can't WAIT! I can't WAIT! Cut to end Dad… Cut to end…"

The Enormous Pink Chainsaw fully powers on and begins to buzz loudly.

"CUT TO THE END!"

The father minister gulped nervously, "If anyone knows of any reason why these two should not be joined in union…"

As if on cue, Cody enters the chapel room.

"…speak now, or forever hold your… OH THANK GOD! HELP US! HELP US!"

Randy and the bride shift their heads back down the aisle to see the geek standing before them.

"CODY?"

The geek's eyes widen to see the bride through the veil.

"Heather?"

None other than the queen bee revealed to be the pervert's captive wife to be.

Randy turns the rest of his body in the geek's direction and unknowingly shifts his chainsaw along with it. The teeth of the saw blade rip through the suspended father.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!" the pastor screamed as his lower half gets sawed off.

Randy still didn't notice what he just did to his father and keeps his focus towards Cody, "You! You're trying to ruin… THE HAPPIEST DAY OF OUR LIVES!"

Cody gulped as Randy raised his enormous pink chainsaw which was the size of the scrawny kid himself. All Cody had with him was his aluminum bat, and things are going to get a whole lot worse for him.

**To Be Continued…**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 41:59:58**

**

* * *

A/N: As many of you were expecting Slappy to fight Trent, I'm sorry. I wanted to incorporate Harold instead and this chapter has enough awkward teenagers. Still, I may include him later but it would be hard to depict him in writing to justify his level of creepiness in the game itself.**


	12. Here Comes the Groom!

**A/N: I'm still alive! …No one remembers me? TDLT? You know the story where I alienated half my readers with its ending? No one? Lol XD, enjoy this next chapter.**

**

* * *

Time Before Military Arrives: 41:59:57**

****Cody****

Things are at its worst for the gap toothed geek. Randy Tugman, a heavy set man in a tight black leather gimp suit. Even worse so, Randy wielded an enormous pink chainsaw while Cody just had an aluminum bat. The situation is that Cody found himself in the Las Vegas-style wedding chapel in Fortune City where he finally found Heather being forced into unholy matrimony with Randy just before Cody got there. Now the chainsaw wielding psychopath in a gimp suit sets his aggression towards the uninvited guest.

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" Randy screamed while raising his enormous pink chainsaw.

Cody gulped nervously while readying his bat, "Well at least I have the speed advan… HOLY SHIT!"

Just before Cody's last two words, Randy dashed with incredible speed down the chapel aisle towards the geek as if he wasn't a hundred pounds overweight carrying a giant chainsaw. Apparently his leather bunny suit gave him the agility of a jackrabbit. The geek jumped over one of the chapel pews to get some distance from this oncoming psychopath.

The geek pulled out a baseball from his pocket and throws it in the air. Swinging his bat as the ball descended, he whacks the sphere towards the gimp.

**(A/N: The actual weapon that is the aluminum bat in the game involves striking baseballs towards enemies. Besides, Cody has BIG pockets apparently)**

The projectile struck Randy's forehead and throws the chubby pervert in leather off his feet.

Pulling out another baseball from his pocket, the geek strikes it at Randy as well. This time, the man in the rabbit fetish suit parries the projectile with his giant pink chainsaw. Regaining his fast-running speed, Randy charges at the geek once more. Cody tries to elude him by jumping over the pews again, but Randy's chainsaw teeth ripped into his leg as he tried.

"GAAAAAAHH!" The geek cried out in pain while clenching his wound.

Relishing in his triumph, Randy continues revving up the chainsaw suggestively. This, however, gave the geek to regain his footing and back away. Now staggering as Cody ran, the geek continues to flee the pursuing groom. Continuing the leap from pew to pew, Cody's evasive actions start to pay off. Randy who wasn't as good at jumping as running, continues to try to reach the scrawny kid. Eventually, the fetishist begins to tire and stops to regain his breath.

"Argh… *pant* Just… leave us alone… *pant*

Seizing the opportunity again, Cody takes advantage and swings his aluminum bat against Randy's bunny hooded head.

"AUUGGGGGHH!" The fatter pervert groaned after the impact.

Not wasting time he has with the upper hand, Cody continues to strike Randy over and over with the bat until Randy countered by swinging his massive arm and elbows the scrawny geek to the ground.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?" Randy screamed, preparing to finish the geek off with his chainsaw.

Suddenly, Randy saw his bride trying sneak away.

"Where you going, beautiful?" Randy called out, leaving the geek and approaching Heather.

"Shit…" Heather cursed to herself as her kidnapper darted right towards her.

Not getting the moment to flee the scene, the queen bee is grabbed and bear-hugged courtesy of Randy Tugman.

"We can still make this work, my love!" the gimp insisted as Heather cried out in pain as she is getting squeezed too hard by her soon-to-be husband.

Ignoring the fact that Heather almost left him to die, Cody interrupted the couple by bashing Randy in with his aluminum bat once again. During the second swing Randy grabbed the bat and ripped it out of the geek's hand.

"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!"

Randy then bats Cody back to the ground with the blunt end (fortunately) of the chainsaw. The gimp groom raises his deadly weapon over the geek once again. This time, using the more deadlier end of the chainsaw. Cody's braces himself for what's to come now that he is unarmed before the psychopath.

"Consummate this!" Heather shouted as her foot came from behind Randy's legs and planted into his crotch.

"AAUUUUURRGGHH!" Randy moaned in pain upon impact while hunching his bat forward.

"Cody, HERE!" The queen bee shouted before throwing him his weapon back.

Wasting no time after catching it, the geek swung the heavy blunt weapon against the lower jaw of Randy. Just as Randy seemed dazed, he snapped out of it and backhands Cody back once more.

"PLEEEEEASE DIEEEEE!" Randy screamed again.

Now even more frustrated than ever, the bunny bachelor psychopath spins around recklessly, swinging the deadly pink chainsaw around in a chaotic lariat fashion. Unfortunately, his carelessness would be at the expense of another loved one as he is carelessly flailing towards his bride. Heather becomes petrified with fear as the spinning chainsaw gets closer and closer to her.

"Heather!" Cody screamed, tackling her just before the saw teeth could rip into her.

However, the deadly weapon did manage to rip into the geek's backside.

"AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUURGHH!" Cody screamed from the deep wound.

The two then manage to look back at the crazed psychopath as he slows down in his reckless assault. Too disorientated to control his actions, Randy only stumbles forwards down the chapel before falling on his back. As he begins to regain his clarity, he sees a figure in a white gown approach him.

The perverted psychopath gives a grin, "Baby… we could have been so good together…"

The bride continues to get closer to Randy.

"Our wedding night would have been so…"

Randy's eyes widen to realize that this bride was not Heather, but the recently deceased bachelorette who had risen from the pew with the lust for flesh. Before he could scream, the bridal zombie bites down on him and begins to feast while his muffled screams began to surface. Heather and Cody just look at the grisly act.

"Get one last look at your future, Cody," Heather said, breaking the silence.

"Too mean…" the geek responded before sighing. He then groaned in pain, realizing his recent leg and back wound.

Heather just scowled at her rescuer, "Great, how the hell are we supposed to get out of here now?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine"

"That's not what I care about!" the queen bee snapped at him again.

Heather took that opportunity to walk in the chapel's back room to change back into her street clothes.

Not willing to let Heather's attitude distract him, "Listen, there's a safehouse not too far away, many of the others are there already"

"Well what the hell are waiting for?" Heather impatiently asked with her usual scowl after finishing changing.

The geek sighed once more and handed her his bat. He then picked up Randy's giant pink chainsaw to lead the way. As the two left the chapel, the geek mowed down the zombie horde that stood in their way to the Royal Flush Plaza.

****Gwen****

"DJ? Where are you?" The goth hollered in the zombie filled area that was the Slot Ranch Casino.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of gunfire from across the room. Following the sound, she finds DJ's mom protecting her son from the zombie horde with a shotgun from behind the casino cashier counter. The gentle giant himself was huddled in the fetal position.

"Mommy! Make them go away!" he bawled to his matriarch.

"DJ!" the goth shouted again, this time, getting the attention of the DJ household.

The goth ran to the pair and ordered, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

DJ's mother instantly smacked her upside the face, "A zombie outbreak is no excuse for bad manners missy!"

"Are you fucking serious!" Gwen angrily responded.

"Language!" DJ's mom continued after smacking the goth again.

"I'm sorry," the loner submitted, "Listen, please come with me to the safehouse. It'll be haven from the zombies until the military arrives."

"That's better"

DJ himself cut in, "Momma, I'm scared!"

The two women frown as the gentle giant continued to whimper in fear over the zombie apocalypse. Breaking the moment was a zombie who lunged at the two, only to be blown back by DJ's mom's firearm.

"Now listen, missy," DJ's mother said sternly to Gwen as she hands the goth her shotgun, "Get my baby out of here and I'll follow you shortly!"

"What will you be doing?" Gwen inquired the older woman.

"None of your concern, missy! Now take my baby to the safehouse!"

Gwen frowned at the woman with suspicion, "What is it?"

DJ's mother looked at her son to confirm he was too distracted in his fear to listen in on their conversation. She then turned back at Gwen and showed the younger woman her bare shoulder. Gwen gasped with dread to see the bite mark on it. Two more zombies lunge at the women but are shot back as well.

"Listen, it's too late for me, but get DJ to safety!" the matriarch ordered.

"But if we can find you some Zombrex, we can save you!" Gwen protested.

DJ's mother frowned, "I'm already starting to feel it, I just want you to make sure my baby gets out of here. Now please, do it for me!"

Gwen tearfully complied and ran over to DJ himself, "Come on Deej, let's get you to safety"

DJ snivels, "Gwen, I'm scared!"

"Don't worry, we're gonna make it out of here!"

Grabbing the gentle giant's hand, the goth pulls him from his terrified state and away from the cashier counter. She then proceeded to lead him back towards the Royal Flush Plaza.

"What about Momma?" DJ questioned in his panic.

"She said she'll catch up!" the goth regrettably assured.

Only Gwen turned back at the elder woman who only nodded back at them as the undead horde mobs the counter she stood behind.

****Trent****

The musician's pace down the Palisades Mall towards the safehouse was much slower than usual. His past deed of unknowingly killing Harold continues to burn into his conscience. Gritting his teeth from one bad deed after another, he had no idea where to put all the guilt that had been piling up on him.

"HEY! YOU OVER THERE! HEEELP!"

Breaking his lamenting, Trent heard the woman's beckon. Rushing over to her, he sees the woman being mobbed by zombies while atop a fireworks stand. She had long dark hair with red highlights, a white tank top, jeans, and tennis shoes. Thinking quickly, he lights some of the firecrackers to create a big enough explosion to blow the flesheaters back. He then grabbed her and pulled her from the dazed crowd. Grabbing a nearby lead pipe, the musician clubs back more of the zombies that stood in their way. Taking cover behind the dumpster, the pair had a moment to regain their breath.

"You okay?" the musician said with concern.

"Yes, thank you!" the woman said graciously, "My name's Haley"

"Trent," The musician smiled back at her. At last, finally something good came from this day. Where a good deed could be made to separate him from the grim events that had occurred earlier.

"I got separated from my fiancé, John. Have you seen him? He has a blue Mohawk and a nose piercing"

Trent's jaw dropped from hearing this. The man who got him today's dosage of Zombrex who had been killed by Leon yesterday. This was his lover. How the hell was he supposed to break this to her.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

The musician rested his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry… I met him before and he didn't make it"

Haley gasped and began to tear up, "Oh John…"

Trent noticed some zombies approaching them with foamy maws.

"Listen, we have to get out of here. I'll take you to the bunker, it'll be safe there. It's just past the Royal Flush Plaza," Trent assured the mourning woman and leads her towards the said plaza.

"Wait!" she stopped him before he pulled her any further.

"What is it?" the musician asked.

"I know a shortcut that'll take us right there. There's a secret passage from one of the stores in this mall, follow me!"

The woman leads him by the hand up to the second level of the Palisades Mall past every oncoming zombie along the way. The two eventually enter a clothing store. Haley shows him a secret chute in one of the dressing room and the two begin crawling down it.

"This will take us right into the women's restroom in the Royal Flush Plaza"

Trent frowned, "Gee, I wonder why this thing was installed in the first place…"

****Cody****

"Slow down, twerp!" Heather barked at the geek as he mows down the undead horde with his commandeered chainsaw. The two were now back at the Royal Flush Plaza.

Cody sighed once again, realizing that not even a zombie apocalypse can stop Heather from being Heather.

"Ugh! I can't believe I was about to marry that… "thing"!" The queen bee said before gagging.

Cody grinned back, "Well it's a good thing I stopped by, then"

"Whatever…" Heather scoffed.

The pair eventually met up with the other two groups just outside the dark corridor leading to the safehouse secret entrance. Heather only scowled at the unwanted company.

"Great, the zombie queen herself is here…"

"…Great… you lived…" The goth gave her own dark sarcasm to her long time nemesis.

"What about Momma?" DJ questioned in his panic.

"Hurry before the undead close in!" The goth said, dodging said question.

With Gwen leading the group, DJ, Cody, Heather, Trent and Haley follow her down and through the air duct. Eventually the entire group made it to the safehouse to live for another battle.

DJ nervously paced near the air duct, Haley departed to grieve over her lost love while the rest of the group met up with Stacey in the surveillance room. Sierra was also there and happily glomped Cody, glad that he was okay.

"Oh Codykins! I was so scared for you when you had to go against that fat creep!" Sierra exclaimed, not releasing him from his embrace.

Heather rolled her eyes, "It was hardly a fight…"

Sierra released Cody and glared back at the queen bee, "You know you could show a little gratitude for being saved from unholy matrimony with a gimp!"

"Pfft... I had everything under control… Cody should be thanking me!"

Gwen glared at Heather and stomped towards Heather and smacks her across the face.

"If it was anyone other than Cody, you would've been left to die. So I would suggest you show some FUCKING respect for the few people that actually GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOU!"

The queen bee turned silent from the harsh words and the strike to the cheek.

"Where is Cody?" Sierra asked everyone, now noticing the geek slipped away during the conflict.

"Leave him be, he has been through enough," Gwen ordered.

"Yikes," Stacey Forsythe inputted, "Drama anyone?"

Gwen sighed from the ordeal before noticing Trent who was moping in his own right, thinking about what went down in the Palisades Mall.

The goth rested her hand on the musician's shoulder, "I saw what happened on the monitors… I'm sorry such a thing happened to Harold…"

The musician lowered his head in shame.

"I get where you're coming from. I was in a similar position with Sadie, remember?"

"At least you tried to do something about it…" Trent lamented, "I didn't even know who I was fighting until it was too late…"

Heather cut in, "Anyone wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"Don't mind her," Gwen scoffed to Stacey, "She has a notorious attitude problem"

"Bite me, weird goth girl!" the queen bee shot back.

"Not to be rude," the redheaded leader of CURE intervened, "but Trent, I thought I should remind you that you are due to meeting Rebecca and her source in four hours at the nightclub in the Yucatan Casino"

"That's right…" the musician said, recollecting the event despite his grueling battle with the Alabaster Knight also known as Harold, "I can't give in now. Tyrone King is responsible for all this! The blood of Beth, Katie, Sadie, Harold, Leshawna, and everyone else in Fortune City is on his hands. I will not let him get away for all he had done to us!"

"Wait, what happened to them?" Heather cut in again.

Suddenly, DJ stepped in.

"Gwen, why hasn't Momma come back yet?" DJ questioned in a panic.

The goth gave him the saddest look she could muster. She knew it was time.

"DJ, about her…"

After the next second, all that could be heard from around the safehouse was…

**"MOOOOOOMYYYYYYYY!"**

**To Be Continued…**

**

* * *

Time Before Military Arrives: 38:00:00**

**Notebook:**

**TDI:**

**Chris – Safe**

**Chef – Safe**

**Alejandro - Safe**

**Beth – Dead**

**Bridgette - ?**

**Cody – Safe**

**Courtney - ?**

**DJ – Safe **

**Duncan – Located **

**Eva - ?**

**Ezekiel - ? **

**Geoff - ?**

**Gwen – Safe **

**Harold - Dead**

**Heather – Safe**

**Izzy - ? **

**Justin – Safe **

**Katie – Dead**

**Noah - ?**

**Leshawna – Dead **

**Lindsay - ? **

**Owen – Safe **

**Sadie – Dead**

**Sierra – Safe **

**Trent – Safe **

**Tyler – Located**

**DR 2:**

**Stacey – Safe**

**Sullivan - Safe**

**Rebecca – Located**

**Tyrone King - Located**

**Crystal – Located**

**Amber – Located **


	13. Even More Out of Control

**Time Before Military Arrives: 37:59:59**

Once again, it was down time for the survivors in the safehouse. Almost everyone dispersed until something would show up on one of the monitors in the surveillance room. Trent, however, stares intently at the screens until it was his time to meet up with Rebecca. Meanwhile, Gwen was comforting DJ in his time of need and Cody was still nowhere to be found.

"Shouldn't you rest up before you go down there?" Stacey asked the musician.

"There's no time…" Trent responded sternly, "at eleven, I have to meet Rebecca and her source to clear my name, while at the same time I have to find another dose of Zombrex for Gwen by tomorrow.

"Please Trent," the leader of CURE implored, "I'll watch, you'll need the energy by later tonight"

"I can't just do nothing!" Trent shouted, "I'm going off to find the dose early. I'll be sure to meet with Rebecca and kill two birds with one stone"

The musician then immediately left the safehouse.

Meanwhile, Heather was inspecting the rundown set of halls and rooms that was the safehouse. Gwen and Sierra had been telling her to apologize to Cody for treating him like crap since he found her and she was not in a good mood about it either. Not long after, the queen bee runs into a familiar ex-flame.

"Heather! You're alive!" Alejandro exclaimed while trying to hug her.

The queen bee just slid past him.

"Save it. Where were you when the twerp was the one keeping that creep away from me?" Heather snapped back.

Not willing to deal with the Latin Arch Enemy, the queen bee continues on, leaving him glaring back at her. Continuing on, she hears sounds in one of the back rooms. Following said noises, Heather stepped into one of them to see a whimpering Cody curled up next to a tiger… wait a TIGER? Heather jumped back at the sight of Snowflake, the show tiger Cody rescued yesterday. The geek looked up to notice her. Quickly wiping his eyes dry, he grins at the queen bee.

"Oh hi, Heather," Cody greeted, "I see you found my hiding spot"

Ignoring the sleeping tiger now, Heather inspects the damp eyes of the techno geek.

"Sheesh twerp, did short selling your fight with that sicko really get to you THIS much?"

"What?" Cody tries to scoff, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me"

Heather glares at him, clearly unconvinced by his cheery façade.

The geek sighed in defeat and wrapped his arms around his knees while sitting, "It's just… these two days have been too much for me… I've… seen things… I can't unsee… Beth… she died right in front of me… Gwen could turn into a zombie any day without her medication… this tiger's owner… I couldn't reason with him… I couldn't convince Tyler to come here… and a cannibalistic chef fed Owen… something horrible…"

With each line said, more and more tears stream from Cody's eyes as he bites his lip at every pause.

Heather lowered her head as well, lamenting on all the things she heard happen from the others. Sure her relationship with Beth, Katie, Sadie, Harold, and Leshawna were from indifferent to utterly contempt. But wanting them all dead was too much even for the queen bee to wish for.

Cody wiped his eyes once more, "But crying out there will only get me eaten. That's why I hold it all in until I can let it all out in secrecy back here. So I don't get in anyone's way or become a burden to Gwen. So I don't show everyone how USELESS I REALLY AM!"

The queen bee continued to frown at the bawling geek as he pours his heart out. Dishing out the feel goods was never her forte. Deciding to wing it, however, Heather sits down next to him.

"Cody, remember the finale of season three? When you were eliminated and it was down to me and Alejandro?"

Cody raised his head and looked back at her, curious to see where this was going.

The queen bee chuckled, "Many thought either way it would be a bad ending. Two jerks responsible for everyone else's elimination really would be a ticket most would not want to pay for. But when you stepped into my corner, you introduced a new light back into the game as well as hope that the ending would still be a happy one. You joined my side, Harold followed, and eventually, nearly everyone else followed suit"

The techno geek raised an eyebrow, "What does that have anything to do with what's going on now?"

"Simple," Heather elaborated, "Everyone needs you to make it through this, Cody. Trent and Gwen both like you enough to rely on you to survive so there would still be hope for a bright future once we escape this hell. If you weren't here, why would our state be any better than Beth and the others?"

Cody gave his own subtle laugh, "I still don't get why I am so popular…"

"You must be doing something right," Heather said as she got up to leave.

"Thanks, Heather" the geek said graciously.

"Don't thank me, twerp," she coldly snapped back, "This just makes us even for saving me from that freak, earlier"

Cody only smiled as she stomped off.

****Trent****

The musician took the shortcut through the restroom stall in the Royal Flush Plaza to a clothing store all the way in the Palisades Mall that was revealed to him by the survivor he rescued last time. On the way, he picks up a fire axe casually left there by a fire extinguisher and became his new melee weapon. Unknowingly passing the secret door to Courtney's group's hiding spot, he proceeded towards the Yucatan Casino, the place where he was set to meet with Rebecca later. The zombie horde does what they do best, trying to grab at Trent flesh. The musician bats them off with a few swings of his new axe. Chopping down flesheaters left and right, Trent makes his way into the Casino.

"Wonder if I can find some Zombrex in here as well…"

****Gwen****

The goth was doing her own comforting with DJ.

"Deej, it'll be okay," Gwen tries to comfort.

"How is it going to be okay, Gwen? Momma's DEAD!" The gentle giant screamed.

"But she gave her life to make sure you survived, though" the goth reminded.

"How am I supposed to survive without her, Gwen? HOW?"

"We'll help you, Deej. I promise"

DJ buries his head between his knees, "I was better off not finding her. I should've just stayed with the rest of the group. At least then I wouldn't have found out…"

"The rest of the group? Who were you with?" the goth inquired.

"Courtney, Bridgette, Geoff, and Eva," DJ tearfully explained, "I got separated from them when I ran off to find Momma…"

"Those four?" Gwen asked out loud, "Where did you last see them?"

"They were barricaded in the hideout hidden behind the sporting goods store all the way over at the Palisades Mall," the bawling giant informed.

Gwen proceeded to get up before patting DJ's back, "Don't worry, we'll make it through this"

The goth then left the room back to the surveillance one. There she only saw Stacey.

"Where did Trent go?"

"He headed off to meet Rebecca," The leader of CURE informed.

Gwen frowned in frustration, "I guess I'll have to go… I can't believe I have to reason with miss ZIT…"

The loner goth now leaves the safehouse through the air duct to find the ragtag team of survivors that composed of Courtney, Bridgette, Geoff, and Eva.

After Gwen left, Stacey continues to inspect the surveillance cameras. She notices something strange at the Silver Strip entrance to the Yucatan Casino.

"What is that? A crashed police car?"

****Trent****

As the musician foraged around the Yucatan Casino's interior, fending off zombie only when necessary, he makes his way to the center of the place. He looks up to see the Aztec architecture that towered over the casino.

"Maybe if I climb up it, I can get a good scout of the overall area"

Trent climbs up the stone tower that pillared the casino. The height not only gave him the view he needed, but also provided him with a safe haven from the zombies that infested the area. Scanning the place, he notices some strange figures from across the area.

"What could those be?"

Climbing down the Aztec pillar, Trent run down the casino slot machines to see unique corpses splattered all over the floor.

"No zombie did that…" the musician tells himself.

The corpses looked like they were sawn apart with pieces scattered all over. Trent got a closer look to see police badges and crimson stained uniforms.

"Police officers?"

****Gwen****

Later, Gwen also took the "Plaza to Mall" shortcut but went a separate direction thereafter. Before leaving the clothing store, she needed a weapon to fend off the zombie horde. Picking up the fire extinguisher left behind by Trent who took the mainstream route, the goth bats away each corpse with the blunt extinguisher. She runs down the aisle of the mall while continuing to bat back each flesheater.

"Dammit, this thing can't take much more impact" Gwen cursed as she inspects her weapon.

As more zombies crowd around her, she notices one idly swatting at the air. Squinting to get a better look, she notices an insect flying around the lone zombie. Recalling the pheromone effects of the insect she ran and caught the bug just as more zombies surround her.

"Hope this works!" Gwen shouts as she squishes the genetically modified insect.

As if on cue, the surrounding zombies stroke out. One by one their heads start exploding leaving larvae to pop out of each open stump, dying soon after. Not wasting the time thereafter, the goth continued down the Pallisades Mall. As more zombies pursue her, she resorts to blowing back the horde with the extinguisher's more intended purpose before running past the now blinded corpses. After running past even more, the goth hears voices in a nearby store. Excitement filled the air as Gwen ran to said store.

"BRIDGETTE? GEOFF? EVA?"

As she got closer to the figures in the store, she sees they are not the people she thought they were.

"Who's this broad?"

They were none other than the infamous looters that scavenge through Paradise City. The patented hooded thugs with bandanas covering their faces surround the goth.

"Stay back…" Gwen nervously ordered, clenching her beaten up extinguisher.

Suddenly, one ran at her. Before she could even react, he grabbed her in a tight bearhug.

"GET OFF ME!" Gwen kicked and screamed.

"Woah, calm down there, Pasty"

"Pasty?" Gwen asked as her eyes widen.

The muffled up sound of his voice could not mask his identity enough. The looter took off his bandana and pulled down his hood to reveal the mohawked delinquent that was Duncan.

"DUNCAN!" Gwen happily yelled as she returns the hug, "I knew you'd be alive!"

"And you doubted me?" the delinquent smugly inquired.

Gwen chuckled before returning to her more serious attitude, "Listen, let's go to the safehouse so the military can get us out of this place"

Duncan frowned, "Was hoping Trent would just keep you safe until I came to get you tomorrow"

"What? You spoke to Trent?"

"Yeah, didn't he tell you?"

"…No… he didn't…" the goth said quietly, questioning why her ex would keep her in the dark on this turn of events. But she would have to deal with that later, "Duncan, Bridgette, Geoff, Courtney and Eva are holed up not too far from here. Please help me get them to safety.

Duncan groaned, "Courtney? Ugh… I'd rather face the legion of the damned before running into her again… Fine…" The punk turned to his fellow looters, "Going on my own for awhile, you three take care of things here!"

Gwen and Duncan then ran as a pair down the Palisades Mall. Duncan slashed down nearby zombies with a Bowie Knife while Gwen was handed a large wrench for more reliable use than her fire extinguisher.

****Cody****

The geek entered the surveillance room where Stacey was carefully watching the happenings of Trent and Gwen.

"How are they doing?" Cody asked.

"Looks like Gwen ran into another survivor along the way"

The geek got a good look at the monitor to see none other than Duncan accompanying his crush.

"Him…" the geek said while grinding his teeth in anger.

The two continue to watch the two figures on the monitor, as well as shifting their eyes to see Trent on another. Suddenly, a fourth figure appeared on another Palisades security camera.

"What's that?" Cody asked, pointing at the figure.

Stacey got up to get a closer look at the monitor and suddenly her eyes widen, "Oh no…"

"What is it?"

Stacey frantically pulled out her transceiver to call Trent.

"Hello?" the musician asked on the other line.

"TRENT, GET TO THE PALISADES MALL! GWEN IS IN DANGER!" Stacey screamed.

"Gwen? Why is she there?"

"JUST DO IT!" The leader of CURE ordered before hanging up the phone.

Cody squinted to make out the unknown figure on the monitor, "Is that a clown?"

****Gwen****

"This is the store," the goth informed her punk boyfriend after clubbing the last zombie with her wrench.

The pair approached the backroom door and tries to open it. Unfortunately it was locked.

"Leave this to me, babe," Duncan said, picking the lock with his knife.

Though it worked, it still wouldn't budge.

"It must be barricaded on the other side" Gwen noted.

The two then pound the door, hoping someone would hear them.

"ANYONE IN THERE?" Duncan hollered.

"BRIDGETTE? GEOFF? EVA?" the goth added.

"Who's there?" a voice finally responded.

"It's us, Duncan and Gwen"

The Gwuncan pairing rests their ears against the door to hear whispering.

"No! I don't want them in!"

"Come on! They're our friends!"

"Not mine!"

"For God's sake Courtney, let them in!"

Eventually the door is propped open for the two to slide in. As they did, Eva was there to rebarricade the door. The two were happy to see Geoff and Bridgette and Courtney… to a much much much lesser extent. Gwen happily hugged Bridgette to see her good friend was okay. Duncan affectionately patted Geoff's shoulder.

"How you been, bro?" the delinquent greeted.

"Hehe, been better dude," the party animal responded in his all too easygoing attitude.

Courtney only glared at the two, "I'd rather have the zombies break in than have you two in here…"

Ignoring her, Gwen inspected the hideout, "Not a bad refuge"

The CIT scoffed, "We had all the necessary supplies to make it through this, until you two came in"

Still ignoring her, "Listen guys, we gotta get you all to the safehouse. The military is due to arrive here in two days and will take us out of here"

"Nonsense! We have all we need to survive right here!" Courtney argued.

"This place won't last forever! Now come on!" Gwen rebutted.

"NO! What reason do we have to trust you?" the CIT angrily inquired.

Bridgette and Geoff nervously look at each other.

"You think we should do this?" the surfer girl fearfully asked her lover.

"No idea, babe," Geoff stated, "Those zombie nearly got me last time we were out there!"

"Please guys, you have to believe me!" Gwen begged, "We've lost enough people as it is, don't let the petty stuff cloud what's important here"

"I'M NEVER GOING WITH YOU!" Courtney shouted back.

"Okay, we'll go" Geoff and Bridgette said in unison.

"What?" the CIT was flabbergasted, "But we have everything we need right here! Food, space, bedding! And you are gonna lay your life on the line for these liars?"

"Courtney," Bridgette informed, "This food will last us two weeks tops, but what then? And what if this whole place gets bombed by the government?"

Courtney then angrily sat on a nearby chair, "Fine! Go and die if you want! I am staying here!"

Geoff and Duncan look at each other, "Should we really just leave her here?"

Bridgette sighed, "Eva, if you will?"

As if on cue, Eva picks up and hoists Courtney over her shoulders.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET ME GO, YOU BRUTESS!" the CIT screamed.

"Let's go then, dudes!" Geoff eagerly stated.

The six of them walk out of the hideout towards the clothing store which held the shortcut to the safehouse. The zombie horde grew more attracted to them. Gwen sees the glowing crimson in their eyes. It must be nightfall now. Geoff ran into a sea themed travel agency store nearby. From there, he retrieved two weapons, a surfboard and a harpoon. Handing the former to his surfer girlfriend, he wields the latter himself. Geoff and Duncan both stab down the zombie interceptors that got in their and their girlfriends' way. Bridgette also batted away the undead with her large surfboard while Eva kicked them back with her strong foot while carrying a screaming CIT.

"Hold on guys," Duncan stops the group, "I am gonna quickly check on the fellow looters to see how they are doing"

The five watch the punk as he ran into the store where he met up with Gwen earlier. Suddenly, they hear him gasp with dread. The group ran to the delinquent to see him staring down at the slaughtered corpses of his looter acquaintances.

"How could this have happened?" Gwen said with utterly disbelief.

"You see? YOU SEE? GET US BACK TO THE HIDEOUT!" Courtney screamed.

"This is no zombie's work…" Duncan sternly stated.

Their conversation was cut short by an eerie laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

They all turned to see a clown casually juggling two small chainsaws with ease. The clown wore the traditional makeup and red afro wig. He dressed in the traditional clown combinations of frills and flamboyant patchwork. But to contrast the cheerful clown persona was the blood stains all over his colorful suit as well as his blood shot eyes. Not to mention the fact he was still juggling the two mini chainsaws. Both chainsaws were small and light enough to be held singlehandedly while, at the same time, rip through flesh with as much ease as most regular chainsaws. Everyone nervously takes a step back away from him.

"Oh boy! Kiddies to entertain! AHAAHAHAHAAHAHA!"

Suddenly, the clown stops juggling and laughing to inspect the silence emanating from his teenage audience.

"Everyone used to laugh at me…"

He spoke as he approached the terrified bunch.

"…I was a walking punch line…"

The clown then laughed again before dropping his voice to a sadder tone.

"But not anymore…"

While combining laughter and crying, the clown gets closer and circles the bunch.

"When the zombies came… EVERYONE DIED!"

The tearful laughter continued as his mini chainsaws continue to run.

"That's why, after a close call from that gramps last time, I decided to travel ALL over the country spreading joy to all those affected by those meal ol' zombies!"

"You bastard! You killed my boys!" Duncan angrily yells at the psychotic clown who joyfully stood over the looter's corpses.

"Ahahahahaha! A party pooper?"

The clown's face changed to anger.

"I HATE PARTY POOPERS!"

After juggling the chainsaws for so long, the clown psychopath catches both of them and readies the deadly little slicers for the terrified party of six.

****Safehouse****

Chris pops up from behind Stacey, "Will our ragtag team of survivors make it out alive from this turn of events? Find out when we return on Total Drama... TERROR IS REALITY!"

Stacey glares at the deranged host, "My god, what is wrong with you?"

**To Be Continued...**

**Time Before Military Arrives: 36:30:00**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: Damn right I'm bringing Adam into the story (The clown psychopath from the first Dead Rising Game). Hehe, Chris is a psychopath in his own right.**

**Notebook:**

**TDI:**

**Chris – Safe**

**Chef – Safe**

**Alejandro - Safe**

**Beth – Dead**

**Bridgette - Located  
**

**Cody – Safe**

**Courtney - Located  
**

**DJ – Safe **

**Duncan – Located **

**Eva - Located**

**Ezekiel - ? **

**Geoff - Located**

**Gwen – Safe **

**Harold - Dead**

**Heather – Safe**

**Izzy - ? **

**Justin – Safe **

**Katie – Dead**

**Noah - ?**

**Leshawna – Dead **

**Lindsay - ? **

**Owen – Safe **

**Sadie – Dead**

**Sierra – Safe **

**Trent – Safe **

**Tyler – Located**

**DR 2:**

**Stacey – Safe**

**Sullivan - Safe**

**Rebecca – Located**

**Tyrone King - Located**

**Crystal – Located**

**Amber – Located **


End file.
